Half-Breed
by Moonview
Summary: 3 years after the tragic incident at Jurassic World, an ambassador's plane crashes on Isla Nublar's infamous sister Isla Sorna. Sent to rescue him from almost certain death the team encounters not just deadly dinosaurs and injured people, but a boy. A boy who lives with the Velociraptors as if he was one of their own, which wasn't very far from the truth.
1. Prologue

Prologue

**A/N: alright, so a friend of mine and I were talking about stories and we began talking about one that we had the same idea for, just with some differences, and this story was born. **

**Now, I know I should be working on the Allies sequel and I am! But I've had this one bouncing around in my head almost just as long as the first part of that series!**

**So I don't own Jurassic Park series, the Isle, or Young Justice.**

"Vic is dead," one of the InGen personnel informed as the helicopter flew away.

Dr. Henry Wu sighed, it shouldn't have been surprising, that man was a fool, always charging in believing he could control a situation. Vic Hoskins was very excited and had given the authorization he needed to start the Asset X Program they began after receiving some charitable donations from their benefactor; his death would be a setback.

A setback, but it would not stop the program.

It had been difficult creating the hybrids, but he managed to prefect it for the day he knew Masrani would want something "cooler" for some point after the new park's planned opening. He had to perfect hybridization before creating the X Assets, and it had taken many long years before he created his prized A1 from some DNA samples their partner managed to procure for him. He didn't even want to count the failures he had before his success.

And he'd be damned to hell if Hoskins' death resulted in Asset X discovery. "Head for Isla Sorna."

"Sorry sir, we have orders to take you to headquarters," the pilot replied.

"I need to get something from Isla Sorna," the scientist growled.

"Sorry sir, but orders were to take you to the compound and to abandon Isla Sorna. Everyone's already been evacuated and the assets inside the facility are in transport, however there was a report that one of the X Assets escaped."

"Damn it!" Wu cursed, odds were that A1 was the one who got out of containment. It wouldn't be the first time. The others X Assets were more compliant, but A1 had always been decidedly more hostile than the others, not as bad as A2 but at least A2 was cooperative and understood her place. There were only a few select people A1 would listen to, and unless one of them were present A1 fought with everything he had to escape, going as far as to even critically injure several of his guards. Though that shouldn't really have been a surprise given his parents. However, it could just be the raptor genes, his predecessors—those _failures_—had been unnaturally bloodthirsty as well.

"If it's so important sir we can ask headquarters to send a team to retrieve it."

"Do it," he said. At least his other assets were already in transit to a safe location for proper training.

-.-

On the island of Isla Sorna a eleven-year-old boy ran through the familiar forests. His white clothes were torn and stained in several places from blood and dirt. The clothing rubbed up against his scale-patches, making them itch.

Hearing snapping behind him he leapt up into a tree and dug his dark claws into the bark, climbing up to the nearest branch he looked down to see several of the guards the doctor had left to watch him when he wasn't around.

"A1, where'd you go?" one said as he came out. "Now's not the time for hide-and-seek." Looking up he smiled as he saw the human-velociraptor hybrid in the tree. "There you are, come on down. I promise we won't hurt you."

The boy hissed, his pupils narrowing into thin slits, and baring his fangs, his tail swinging back and forth in anger. The man was lying, he could smell it, a person's scent always changed when they lied.

He didn't like these guards, they were always cruel. They demeaned, dehumanized, and hurt him despite his requests for them to stay away and they always retaliated viciously when he defended himself. They were the ones who ordered the muzzle and chains.

The only nice humans he knew were the Doctor, Master, and Caretaker.

The Doctor taught him reading, writing, math, science, history; saying something that only fools were uneducated. But even then, the Doctor hurt him, running numerous tests on him to see what he was capable of, and "modifying" him when he saw fit.

Master was what the man who had been teaching him to fight demanded to be called. He always liked the weeks Master came in, sparring was the man was like roughhousing with the pack. While Master could be rough and firm, he did occasionally show a softer side and let him out of training early if he did well. He'd also been the one to give him his human name "Onyx."

Caretaker was the one who raised him when he couldn't be with his mother in the pack. She read him stories and gave him tasty treats, and she was always there to tend to his injuries after the guards and was the only human he could trust.

These guards were not Caretaker.

**"****Help! Mama! Help!"**

The guard took a step back as the terrifyingly familiar distress call of a raptor tore its way out of the boy's throat and was answered with the bushes shaking. A red dappled grey raptor leapt out of the bushes with a shriek as she got between him and the hybrid.

"Shit," the guard cursed, it was Titania the alpha female who claimed the boy as a member of the pack when they watched Wu introduce them in captivity when he was one. She had also been the one to raise him whenever Dr. Wu or _that man_ placed him in the pack to test something; or he escaped and managed to make his way back. Needless to say she was never happy when he was taken away from the pack, the raptors had killed several of their men when they were trying to take him back to containment.

And one thing was clear with Titania, you never messed with her babies. **"Kill him!" **The rest of the pack came out and he started running through the forest, as the raptors chased after.** "Are you hurt, Nightmare?"** she asked licking her adopted child's cheek and nudging his skinny frame under her.

**"****I'm fine,**" Onyx answered nuzzling her snout, as the other raptors tore the man who hurt their hatchling apart.


	2. The Crash

Chapter 1

**A/N: I just own the story and the main character.**

**"****Velociraptor is in bold"**

**_Telepathy/flashback_**

**3 years later: July 13, 2:41**

"El aviòn aterrizará pronto [the plane will be landing soon]" the stewardess said to the ambassador.

"Gracias [thank you]" he replied. "Cuánto tiempo [how long]?"

"Cuatro horas [4 hours]."

"De acuerdo, gracias [ok, thank you]" the ambassador said. The flight was taking longer than usual, mostly because of a storm in the middle of the Pacific, but they would still have enough fuel to make it back.

"Abroche sus cinturones de seguridad, estamos experimentando turbulencia [fasten your seatbelts, we're experiencing turbulence]" the piolet warned as the light came on.

Looking out the window the ambassador saw what appeared to be a minor tropical storm. Taking a breath he clutched his seat as the plane shook with the turbulence. A bright flash forced him to open his eyes. "Fue ese rayo [was that lightning]?"

Lightning struck again and the plane fell out of the sky.

-.-

**Isla Sorna**

Onyx peered towards the exit of the den the established within the compound after the humans left, they normally cuddled within during storms like this, rain was cold and wasn't good for the eggs; the compound provided both protection and insulation for when the adults weren't present. Yawning, he crawled over several of the others and sat at the entrance. A flash exploded throughout the sky, nearly blinding the hybrid as he jerked his arm up to shield his sensitive eyes. Once the blinding light died down, he looked out to see a fireball falling down from the sky landing near the expanse of flat rock.

**"****Nightmare,"** Titania called. "**Back in the nest."**

**"****Something landed in the marshlands."**

**"****We shall investigate it tomorrow, if the Spines have not reached it first,"** she replied as he crawled back to his spot. Titania gently puffed air in his direction before licking his cheek **"Get some rest, we hunt tomorrow."**

Yawning, he gave one last look at the stormy sky before curling his tail around himself and settling down for the night.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: 8:45**

"What's the emergency?" Aqualad asked as the team came in.

"We've recently received information that the Costa Rican Ambassador's plane crashed on the way back from Australia. Your mission is to go rescue him and the crew of the plane," Batman stated.

"A rescue mission, seriously? Why send us to get a man who's trapped on some deserted island?" Kid Flash scoffed.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "This 'deserted island' is known to the locals as 'la Isla de la Muerte'. Otherwise known as Isla Sorna, Isla Nubar's sister island and Site B for Jurassic World. It is the largest island in the island chain known as the Five Deaths, where they studied the dinosaurs in a more natural habitat." The team gulped, they heard about the numerous incidences on the deadly islands. "There's only one fence running through the middle of the island, one containment area for the Pteranodons, and avoid the water at any cost."

"That answer your question?" Robin growled.

"Yes."

"Due to the highly dangerous nature of the islands and the fact this is the team's first real mission, Wonder Woman is going to be accompanying you due to her experience with large creatures," Batman stated. "Get going, the longer they remain on the island, the less likely it is that they're alive."

Nodding they ran to the ship. "Geez…this is…kinda scary," Wally said rubbing his knee. "No fences, no roads, no people. We'll be in the middle of dino-territory."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Superboy grumbled.

"Do you…do you think we'll encounter the velociraptors?" M'gann asked. "I've heard that they're pretty nasty."

"Don't know, let's hope not, no one knows what's on the island exactly. It wasn't exactly a tourist destination," Robin said. "Rumor had it that there was a Spinosaurus."

"This'll be fun."

"Correction, this will be extremely dangerous," Aqualad corrected. "No one goes anywhere alone, keep your comm-links open. M'gann establish a telepathic link once we land just in case the comms go out or we need to out maneuver anything."

"What do you mean out maneuver anything? They're animals, they can't be that smart," Kid scoffed as they walked into the Bioship.

"Actually Wallace, according to numerous accounts of survivors of the first Park, the San Diego T-Rex Incident, and a rescue mission on Isla Sorna the velociraptors are actually highly intelligent," Wonder Woman informed causing the speedster to freeze in embarrassment as the Amazon boarded. "Dr. Grant, who was at the first park, and on the rescue mission personally observed them and described the complex calls and strategies they came up with to ambush their prey."

Robin jumped in his seat, adding in, "And Owen Grady, the Jurassic World raptor trainer noted their extreme intelligence: they can take orders, recognize who's in charge and a member of their pack, and can strategize their own attack patterns. Even reported the pack Beta giving him sass. And during the rescue Dr. Grant's assistant reported the raptors setting a trap, by injuring one of their team and hiding nearby. And when they saw him they almost climbed down when two of the raptors pounced early and nearly got them. They escaped only by getting back up the tree. And apparently once they realized the trap was a bust the raptors killed the man because they knew he was no use to them any longer. And during the San Diego capture mission, the raptors ambushed the group when they ran into the tall grass, using it as camouflage so they couldn't see them coming. They ended up killing most of them."

The team sat down in silence, if there were raptors still on Isla Sorna, they were in deep trouble. "Let's hope we don't run into any," M'gann gulped as they took off.

"Yeah, though I brought this just in case," Robin said holding a construction of a resonating chamber. "Bats got it from someone who worked with the raptors, it was standard issue to have one just in case they fell into the cage."

"Why?"

"Well, this mimics the sounds they release so they get confused," he explained.

"You have more of those?" Wally asked.

"Sorry, just this one," the Boy Wonder said.

"Anyone know any other dangers on Isla Sorna?" Aqualad asked.

"The herbivores, while normally harmless get them into a stampede they can kill someone," Wally added. "And there's the famous ones with horns, and spiked or clubbed tails, those could easily kill someone. However, if we don't provoke them we should be fine."

"There's T-rex and other large carnivores on the island too," M'gaan stated. "We'll also have to watch out for the flyers, they can swoop down at any moment."

"I even heard a rumor that they were working on creatures from the Cenezoic period," Robin grinned. "Masrani made a comment a couple years ago about mammoth rides that I overheard when Bats and I were waiting on a rumor that the Scarecrow was going to attack."

"Which will probably include the predators from that era too."

"Of course our official first mission was going to go smoothly!" KF sarcastically cheered.

"Look at the bright side Wally, you're going to get some pretty amazing souvenirs," M'gann smiled.

"True. Maybe I could grab an egg!"

"Bad idea, if it's a velociraptor nest they'll chase us all over the island, that's what they did to the rescue group after one of them took the eggs," Robin informed.

"Ok, maybe a lone Compy!"

"NO!" they all shouted.

"Fine…maybe a bone, eggshell, or a scale…oh! A tooth that fell loose!"

"That would be pretty cool," Robin grinned.

"Get ready, we're on route for Isla Sorna."

-.-

Nightmare yawned and stretched as dawn broke. Sniffing the air he caught several odd scents, one which smelled strongly of blood nearby. Was it whatever fell from the sky? Did it come to the nest? Or did some of the larger carnivores kill something big?

Whatever it was seemed familiar, but it didn't smell like any of the predators on the islands, not even the mammalian ones they ate from time to time.

Crawling over his still sleeping pack he stepped out of the den, looking back he wondered if he should wait for the others to investigate. Shaking his head he ran out of the news in the general direction of the crash. He could investigate later, right now, his first priority was food.

Hearing a squawk, he stopped on a ledge and looked down, spotting one of the strange fat feathered birds with large beaks that wandered around, if he was remembering correctly it was called a dodo. Considering how often they were hunted though it was surprising that they hadn't been wiped off of the island yet like some other species had been.

It was looking away from him, probably didn't know he was there, and even if it did spot him, they weren't very fast and they couldn't fly. Crouching down he crept forwards before lunging and catching the squirming pest, he bit down on it till the feathery creature finally stopped moving. Holding his meal in his jaws, he climbed up into the safety of the trees before spitting out a mouthful of feathers.

Dropping the last bone as he finished his meal, Onyx stood up and dug his claws back into the bark before climbing higher and looking over the other trees. He could see where some of the trees were broken or fallen, no doubt from what fell from the sky.

Crawling back down he ran for the landing area for whatever fell from the sky.

-.-

"Ambassador!"

"Ambassador Ramerez!"

Groaning the dignitary sat up and looked around, they were in an abandoned building by the looks of it. "Where are we Garratt?"

The assistant shrugged. "Not sure, the pilot and copilot couldn't get a signal out. We came here last night after spotting it in the storm."

"Is everyone alright?"

"Pilot's dead. I have a few bruises and scrapes. One stewardess has a few cuts and a broken wrist. Copilot has some cuts and a possible concussion. You have a broken arm, possible concussion by the way you've been knocked out for the past few hours, and some cuts. The other stewardess was the worst off, fractured wrist, cuts, bruising, possible damage to ribs, and a sprained ankle," he explained. "After the plane crashed we managed to get here with little issue."

"What is this place?"

"Seems to be some sort of research complex—or what's left of it—I'd guess a weather station or a marine life research facility."

"Sir!" the pilot said. "You'll want to see this."

Getting up the ambassador and assistant followed him into a room filled with eggs broken eggs, and little developing embryos in tubes that had died a long time ago. "Is it just me, or do these look like…"

"Dinosaurs," Garratt said.

"We're on Isla Nublar?"

"No," the Garratt said, "we'd see the resort if we were. We could be anywhere in Las Cinco Muertes."

A small shrill cry echoed through the building, going down a hall, seeing a room full of cages they froze as they saw several baby velociraptors gnawing on a large femur.

"Shit."


	3. Risks of the Mission

Chapter 2

**A/N: I only own the story.**

**/comm/**

**_Telepathy_**

**"****Velociraptor"**

**Isla Sorna: July 13, 9:33**

Nightmare crouched at the edge of the tree line, he could see the wreckage of the plane. The wings were still stuck in the broken trees. Taking a sniff, he crept out, the Spines had not been near this area for days and he could smell the pack coming behind him, no doubt following his scent.

Spotting something through the shattered glass, he hopped onto the nose of the plane. He curled his lip at what he saw inside; a human, male. He was obviously dead, wide glassy eye, a massive hunk of metal impaled in his chest, and he was missing half his face.

Huffing, he crawled through the broken windshield, crawling onto a second bloodstained chair, bearing a different scent than the dead one. Sniffing around the wreckage he saw some torn fabric and caught another distinct scent. So that put two live humans so far.

Crouching by another pool of blood, he frowned, same human, probably severely injured if not dead by now. He prowled around the small anteroom, sniffing to make sure he didn't miss anything before moving on to search the rest of the crash. While the room was covered in blood, he swore he could smell another scent. Stopping by one of the cleaner chairs, he pressed his nose into the fabric. Another human, so three alive so far.

Now to search the rest of the plane. Onyx crouched down, carefully pushing aside the tattered curtain to determine his next course of action. The barrel of the plane was empty, nothing except for a few blood spattered seats, a tear in the side where the wing had once been. Judging from the blood leading to the tear, he would bet that's where they escaped.

However, that didn't explain the blood he could see on the seats. There was a clear exit from the torn side, there'd be no logical reason to head for those spots. He sprung onto the seats, crawling over them onto the bloodstained chairs. Sniffing the area, he found not one but two scents. Adding two more humans to his list of those still alive…or possibly alive. Four humans, all were injured, but by the smell of it one was hurt the more than the others, it left the most blood.

Pity more of them couldn't die in the crash. That would be far more merciful in comparison to what lied ahead.

Especially now that he was going to tell the Alpha they were here. **"Human."**

**"****How many?"** Titania asked.

**"****One dead. Four still alive. All injured. I caught their scent near the nest this morning but I thought it might've just been the wind shifting the scent."**

Titania and several of the pack members snorted, injured humans were always easy kills. The alpha female stepped forwards and licked her strange hatchling's scaled cheek **"You're young, mistakes are easy to make,"** she reassured before turning to the rest of the pack, **"LET'S HUNT THESE TRESPASSERS!"**

Each raptor tossed their head up in a resounding screech, fallowing the scent trail. Reaching the compound he slid inside, testing the air he caught their scent. **"Look around, be quiet, call if you find them."**

The others that snuck in nodded and walked off as he headed for the nest.

Unfortunately, it reeked of human, making his lip curl as a low growl started to form. If they hurt his siblings, then Nightmare would show them how he earned his name.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know. Think we should kill it?"

"And piss the parents off? No thanks."

"I think we should take one of 'em, be worth a fortune."

**"****Lemme go! Momma! Dada!"**

**"****Hold on."**

**"****Nightmare! Those monsters took Grey!"** the hatchlings whimpered running under their big brother's legs.

**"****FOUND THE HUMANS! GET TO THE NEST!" **he called, before crouching next to his siblings releasing a deep rumble from the back of his throat to help calm them down. **"Hide in the little areas, the ones we play hide-and-shriek in, come out when the others get here, I'll get Grey."**

**"****Ok!"** they chirped running off to their favorite hiding spot.

"Hear that?" Ramerez asked.

"Yeah, I heard it," the stewardess said glaring at the copilot holding the hatchling. The small raptor bit him, making him drop the tiny thing, it cried out and tried to get up crying out loudly.

"Damn thing bit me!"

"Geez I wonder why, not like you were holding it in a choke-hold or anything," Garratt said.

"Enough," Ramerez said. "What need to worry about is what the hell made that sound!"

**"****Help!"**

A deep growl resounded around the room, and they froze. A set of black claws curled around the corner and scratched the walls. Another growl came and they stared as a young teenager turned baring a set of sharp fangs at them. His gold eyes were thin reptilian slits, wild somewhat shaggy black and red hair stuck up in every known and unknown direction, and he wore only a pair to torn pants, showing the black and red scales dappling his arms, contrasting against his pale skin. The scales crawled up his limbs just under his jawline and onto his cheeks, becoming more prevalent on his collarbones becoming condensed on his back and shoulders, outlining the muscles on his abdomen, some dappling his calves as well, and a long tail gave a resounding crack when it snapped violently to the next direction.

Upon seeing him the hatchling scrambled to its feet but was picked up by the copilot who ran out. **"THEY HAVE GREY!"**

Screaming, they ran out the other door. "What about Annalise?!"

A high pitch scream was their answer as the raptors found her. "We should head for the coast!" Garratt exclaimed.

"How do you know that?"

"More prey in the interior?" he offered, sounding unsure of his own answer.

"Ah, well then, after you," Ramerez said. "I'd like to leave before the raptors get us too."

As they ran into the jungle, they failed to notice the group of raptors watching. **"We hunt the rest later, for now, we eat, we cannot track and fight without energy. Those weaklings won't get far, humans tire easily," **Titania said. **"Fang, Talon, follow them. If you see an opportunity to get Grey back without harming him take it."** The two raptors nodded, taking off after the thieves.

Going to another room, Onyx froze as he saw an injured woman now dead, being a meal to his pack. He may be a raptor first, but he was still half human; cannibalism was looked down on in both groups.

**"****I'm not sure that'll feed us all, should we go hunt something else till we're ready to go after the intruders again?"**

The alpha female looked up from the kill at him. **"Yes, this shall suffice the hatchlings while we hunt food and get Grey back,"** she said. **"Typhoon, Seaspray, Razorback you three will stay and watch the rest."**

The three raptors nodded and settled down as the pack left for the hunt.

Nightmare ran ahead, crawling up a tree he saw a lone…he wasn't sure what it was, it was a big mammal with a lot of fur and one big horn on its nose like a triceratops. They were always difficult to handle, but not impossible. Seems the rest of the pack thought the same thing, because they were getting in position. Smiling he leapt down as they lunged from all directions.

-.-

**12:45**

"There's the crash," M'gann said stopping the bioship. Landing they walked out and searched the wreckage.

"Pilot's dead!" Robin called.

"There's blood, but it's dried," Superboy said. "And there'd be a remaining limb or two if the predators already got them."

"I got something!" KF called running over. "There's tracks, heading that way."

"Towards the center of the island?" Wonder Woman frowned. "The coast is less dangerous, more of the larger predators hide in the island interiors. As long as they stay on the beach they'd be able to see any of the amphibious ones coming towards them."

"True, but the old research compound is that way, I bet they went towards it to try and get a signal out," Robin stated before going pale. "But…"

"But what?" Wally inquired.

"Scans say all the major predators in in the island center; they think the compound is in the middle of raptor territory. That's where it was last time."

"Great, we're heading for the very thing we wanted to avoid running into," Artemis grumbled.

"What's that?" Superboy asked.

"Is this a super hearing thing?" Kid asked.

"Not just super hearing," Wonder Woman said pointing to a puddle, and they could see it ripple, rhythmically, like…impact tremors. The heroine pulled out her rope, and they all began to look around, trying to figure out where the source of the tremors was.

A loud roar broke the silence and the trees moved to reveal a large, blue and red, Spinosaurus with burning red eyes looking at them.

"Maybe it's friendly?" Miss M said.

The dinosaur roared loudly before it began charging at them. "NOT FRIENDLY! DEFINATATELY NOT FRIENDLY!" Wally shouted.

"You kids find the ambassador! I'll handle him!" Wonder Woman said twirling her lasso and wrapping it around the dinosaur's massive jaws, pulling it towards her.

Its red eyes locked onto her and narrowed, burning in rage. Two more loud growls echoed and Wonder Woman grit her teeth as a burnt-orange and blue carnivore that looked similar to the Spinosaurus, but that was a tad shorter standing alongside a gold-grey one approximately the same size.

Yanking on her lasso, she pulled the grey one down to the ground, causing it to knock out to the two others as it fell. Flying up, she looked around and spotted open plains where large herds of herbivores were feeding nearby. If she lured these beasts there then they'd turn their attention away from the children.

Landing, she gave a shrill whistle and she heard loud roars echo behind her as she sprinted towards the fields.

Running through the trees, they could hear the no doubt intense battle between Wonder Woman and the Spinosaurus. _"Guys! Turn right! The plains are up ahead!" _Miss Martian said spotting the fields from where she flew above the trees.

Following her advice they turned and ran out onto the plains, starling several eating at the edge of the field. _"Great send us away from one that would eat us to a bunch that will crush us! Great plan!"_ Superboy remarked as they dodged the stampeding creatures.

_"__Hop on one,"_ Robin grinned as he rode past on a triceratops.

Fallowing his lead, Aqualad jumped, landing on the back of an ankylosaur as Suberboy leapt onto a mammoth. Robin rode past, taking a picture of them as he did. Pulling out an arrow, Artemis used it as a grapple to pull herself onto some dinosaur that ran on two legs and had some weird crest on its head. Kid Flash and Miss Martian were the only ones who didn't need to hop on a dinosaur because he could outrun all of them and she could fly above them.

A roar sounded as three massive, spined carnivores burst from the trees as Wonder Woman sprinted ahead of them before she took off into the air. The three beasts released bone-shaking roars before charging after them. The spinosaur ran through the running herd before picking off an unfortunate juvenile diplodocus. The orange one charged after longer, before biting down on some unfortunate mammal, and the last one grabbed some small herbivore.

_"__They're not focused on us anymore!"_ KF cheered as the rest hopped off their prehistoric creatures.

_"__Good, you kids will want to hop off soon, the compound is in the forest."_

_"__Do you want me to call the bioship?"_

_"__No, it would draw too much attention from predators on the ground. The last thing we need is to gain the attention of the velociraptors,"_ Wonder Woman said. _"We head for the compound on foot. If we're lucky we'll find the ambassador on the way without running into anymore dinosaurs."_

_"__And if we aren't?"_

_"__We run into the raptors first." _


	4. Asset X

Chapter 3

**A/N: I do not own the Jurassic Park series or Young Justice. Onyx is my OC.**

**/comm/**

**T****_elepathy_**

**"****Raptor speak"**

**Isla Sorna: July 13, 13:21**

Onyx ripped a large chunk of meat off, swallowing the sliver whole. Licking his lips, he sniffed the air, he could smell it, fear. The fear given off by prey when it's panicked. Testing the air again, he caught a familiar scent, the spinosaurs, the pack was out hunting.

**"****We should go, we don't need the spines catching our trespassers and Grey,"** the alpha male, Griphook said. He was a large, spiny green raptor with a white stripe on his back and grey tiger stripes getting darker down at his legs. The rest of the pack gave their chirps of agreement.

**"****I got their scent! This way!"**

**"****YOU HEARD WHIPLASH! LET'S GO!"**

With high pitch roars the pack followed the scent of blood.

-.-

"What was that?" M'gann asked as she flew down to the rest of the team, coming out of camouflage mode.

Robin sighed. "Velociraptor. The whole pack by the sounds of it. And if I'm remembering the correct call from the InGen recordings they sound pissed."

"You don't think…?" Superboy began.

"That the ambassador and the crew stumbled into their nest, yeah," Kid said.

"Miss Martian, go up and see if you can spot them," Aqualad ordered.

"Or just pinpoint the sound of terrified screams," Wally added.

Nodding the Martian girl flew up and looked around, putting her hands on her head she stretched her telepathic range trying to detect the presence of the crew, sensing their minds she looked towards a small field of tall grass. _"I got them, tall grass field about a half-mile east!"_

_"__Let's go!"_

Running towards the field they grew worried as the cries of the raptors got louder.

-.-

"They're getting closer!" the surviving stewardess exclaimed.

"Through the grass!" Ramerez exclaimed.

"No!" Garratt exclaimed but they were already running through it. Taking a breath, he split off running along the edge of the trees rather than the place they couldn't see their attackers coming, as was proven by the shadows he saw disappearing into the grass after his comrades. One slowed to a stop and looked his direction. He gulped, it was the humanoid one, it looked back between him and the rest of the pack before charging at him.

In the field the three heard the shifting in the grass. "Where's Garratt?" the ambassador asked.

A loud scream echoed on the edge of the field and they saw their group member running towards them, a dark shadow in pursuit, blood was running down his arm where a bite mark was visible, blood stained his shirt as a series of gashes tore through his clothing and side, and there was a set of deep slashes on his face.

**"****DIE!" **Titania leapt out of the grass to tackle the copilot, when a golden lasso wrapped around her torso and yanked her to the side. The alpha female rolled on the ground, getting to her feet she glared at the human who dared defy her.

Wonder Woman held the lasso tight against the thrashing velociraptor, out of the corner of her eyes she could see other raptors moving around her and the survivors.

The red and grey female at the end of the lasso lunged towards the heroine, and several others made their move as well, grabbing the copilot while she was distracted and dragging him away.

Leaping out of the way, Wonder Woman began yanking on the rope, when something slammed into her from behind, causing her to drop her lasso as sharp claws buried into her arm and teeth sank into her shoulder.

"Wonder Woman!" one of the kids called as they raced out into the field, seeing several raptors grabbing the survivors and the heroine holding off a large female raptor along with another one clinging to her back.

"Help the survivors! I can handle them!" she growled grabbing the lasso around the female's torso and tossing her away.

The team nodded and went to handle the rest of the raptors as Wonder Woman grabbed the one whose claws wear tearing away at her torso. Hurling it over her shoulder the black and red mess landed in front of her with a yelp.

It got to its feet making the heroine freeze as a pair of golden eyes glowing against black and red scales and pale _human_ skin.

The boy before her couldn't have been older than Wally, but he was still baring sharp fangs stained with her blood. He lunged at her, slashing at her with his claws. Ducking under, she grabbed the end of her rope, and stood up, grabbing his arms and using the rope to tie his arms. Of course, that didn't stop the child from fighting. Lifting his legs, the shorter claws on his feet tore at her boots and he attempted to escape her grip, using his tail to keep balance.

Using her leg, she swiped the tail out from under him, and pushing him off of her, before running over and pinning him down with her super-strength, being careful not to harm him. Now she that she could get a good look at she could see he was young, just around Robin's age. Too young to be fighting as viciously as he was.

He was still struggling, attempting to use his teeth to bite her now that he couldn't use his claws since she had his hands pinned and his legs couldn't reach her since she was sitting on him.

"Easy little one, I'm not going to hurt you," she said gently and his pupils narrowed into thin slits as he bared his fangs at her. Seems like he wasn't believing her.

Unfortunately, before she could try to reassure him, the female had untangled herself the lasso and tackled Wonder Woman to the ground. Kicking her legs up, she knocked the raptor off of her and rolled to her feet, watching the large grey and red raptor and the hybrid boy circling her giving low hisses.

"Miss M! Call the Bioship!" Robin called flipping over a raptor, and tasering it just before it could bite down on the pilot's neck, allowing the man to scramble back and join the others as the team fought the carnivores off.

"Get in!" M'gann said flying over as the ship flew down.

The survivors raced over to the ship when several other raptors broke off from the group, blocking their path.

"They've surrounded us!" Kid Flash called punching one as it was about to bite the copilot.

"Did any of you guys grab anything?" Robin called, tossing his last bola, trying up another raptor as it leapt at the group.

The copilot looked down for a moment, his hand in his pocket.

"What did you take?!" Superboy snapped holding a raptor's jaws and wincing as the sharp claws tore through his clothing. Then he heard it, chirps; high pitched, distressed chirps.

"Just give it up already before they kill us all!" the ambassador snapped, shaking the man as Wonder Woman landed next to them, numerous scratches and bites bleeding slowly.

"Alright!"

The man stepped forwards reaching into his pocket, and he pulled out a baby raptor. The grey and red one the heroine was fighting stepped forwards hissing as he set it down. The alpha looked at them for a moment before looking down to the hatchling.

**"****Are you alright?"** Titania questioned looking down to the small runt who shared her dappled grey coloring.

**"****My leg hurts."**

**"****It will heal,"** she replied picking him up by his tail as her mate walked up and licked their hatchling.

**"****Back to the nest!"** Griphook ordered.

To the team's amazement, the raptors began leaving as soon as the female held the baby by his tail in her jaws.

"Ah! It's still there!" the ambassador squealed, hiding behind Superboy as he spotted the hybrid.

Wonder Woman took a step towards the boy, when he crouched and hissed, baring his fangs.

Nightmare had to make sure the humans were leaving before he'd join with the rest of the pack. Camo walked up next to him, ordering the trespassers to go back into their red egg and Whitetail snorted somewhere to his right.

**"****Leave!"** Nightmare snapped glaring at the dark-haired woman.

**"****Nightmare! Camo! Whitetail! Return to the nest!"**

The three looked at each other, then back at the humans before they sprinted off into the forest, ignoring the protesting creatures behind them.

The team stared after the boy as he sprinted off into the forest, Wally was about to chase after, when Aqualad grabbed his shoulder. "We need to get them to a hospital."

Reluctantly standing down, he nodded. "The closest will be in Costa Rica," Diana replied still looking after where the boy vanished.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: 16:12**

"The mission was a success," Aqualad said as they walked into the main room. "The Ambassador, his assistant, the copilot, and the stewardess are currently recovering at the hospital."

"And the pilot and other flight attendant?"

"The pilot died in the crashed and we've been informed that the other stewardess was killed by the raptors when we arrived," he informed.

"I see, where there any complications?"

"Other than nearly being eaten by a pack spinosaurus, crushed by a stampede, and getting murdered by raptors the mission went smoothly," Robin listed.

"Uh am I the only one who remembers that kid?" Wally questioned.

"What?" Batman asked. "No one should be on that island."

"They aren't lying," Wonder Woman said walking in, "there was a boy around Robin's age."

"I got a photo!" Robin said typing on the monitor and pulling up a snapshot he managed to snap, showing the hybrid boy and the two raptors next to him.

Batman frowned, the person in the picture was indeed a teenager. "Hit the showers and go home," he ordered. Looking at his protégé and adopted son they shared a look, knowing they'd meet up back at the Batcave.

"What are you going to do?" Diana questioned.

"I'm going to try and find out who he is, there's bound to be a record somewhere," he replied.

"We can't just leave him there!"

"And we won't, but I need to pull up some records to see if we can get a name or relatives," he replied.

"And how long do you think that will take?" she said raising an eyebrow and placing her hands on her hips.

When she didn't get an answer, the heroine threw her arms up in the air. "Let me know, because while you're doing that I'm going to be going back as often as I can to try and build trust!"

"Just be careful, those islands are dangerous," Batman nodded walking to the Zeta-Tubes and heading for the Batcave.

Arriving at his home, Batman went straight over to the computer and began typing, pulling up the image Robin got and images of missing children. Activating a program that identified facial features he aged them to the approximated age and ran through to try to identify who he was.

"Recognized: Robin—B01."

"You got anything?" Dick asked as Bruce removed his cowl.

"Nothing yet," he replied looking at his son. He bore a few scrapes and bruises, probably from running away from a twenty-foot-tall monster. "How are you holding up?"

"Huh?"

"Your injuries?" Bruce clarified.

Robin shrugged. "It's not the first time I've gotten hurt."

"But it is the first time you went up against dinosaurs," he reminded a slight smile tugging his lips. "Go get some rest, we can talk about this more tomorrow."

Nodding he turned to head upstairs. "Night."

"Night."

"It is getting late not just for Master Dick," Alfred said stepping out. "I'm sure whatever case this is it can wait for tomorrow, after the charity fundraiser you are hosting."

"In a bit," Bruce replied as he started hacking into InGen.

"Just what is so important that you're putting off sleep, sir?" the butler asked raising an eyebrow. Bruce pressed a button and the image appeared on one of the monitors. "I see…and just where is this boy?"

"Isla Sorna."

The butler's eyes widened a fraction of an inch before he composed himself. "How did he get there? And how has he been surviving?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

"Do you believe his is a meta or the result of experimentation?" Alfred asked looking over the boy, he could see the armor-like red and black scales covering his back, going over his shoulders and around his sides outlining his muscles; the sharp claws, a powerful tail, and those unnatural molten-gold eyes.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Bruce said finally getting into their database, which had been reinforced since LexCorp had bought them out. Going deeper into Dr. Henry Wu's personal files he found, looking through one he found a reference to something called _Asset X._ Bruce was willing to bet money that this _Asset X_ was the boy he was looking at in the picture.

And if his growing hunch was right, Dr. Wu was going to be paying an extended trip to the hospital after a surprise visit from the Batman. Human experimentation was horrible, but doing it to a child…it was unforgiveable in his eyes.

-.-

Lex Luthor looked up from his paperwork as Mercy walked in holding a set of files. "Dr. Wu's personal files, sir."

"Thank you, Mercy," he said taking the files. Most of it was data on dinosaurs and potential hybrids that could be used for weaponization, but he could sort out those little details later. Going through he stopped on the file he had been looking for, the very reason he'd hired Dr. Wu in the first place. "Asset X Project."

Opening it, he looked at a startling picture, it was a boy, no older than ten, with wild black and red hair that hid the beginning of matching scales that covered everything but his abdomen and chest, as well as appearing loosely on his arms and legs, his eyes were cat-like in appearance and an inhuman bright gold color, and a long tail curled around his ankles.

**_Asset X: A1_**

**_Age_**_: 08_

**_Species_**_: Human-Velociraptor hybrid _

**_Human Ethnicity_**_: European-American_

**_Mother:_**_ W.W._

**_Father:_**_ D.S._

**_Eyes_**_: Reptilian slit pupils, gold in color with trace flecks of blue and green, third eyelid for combat and infrared vision, tapetum lucidum for night vision is present (reflects light in gold coloring)_

**_Hair_**_: Black with red highlights/lowlights, body hair only develops on head and brows, responds to emotions in similar fashion of animals (i.e. bristling when angry/startled), doesn't grow farther than length shown_

**_Epidermis_**_: Clear distinctive lines between scales and skin in most portions with fading on extremities and face. Scales are black with scarlet stripes; condensed on back, neck, shoulders, upper-arms collarbone, sides of torso; extend down from cheeks to legs; fade to light dappling from elbow to forearm and knee to shins; portions extend into abdomen outlining muscular features_

**_Jaw_**_: Front jaw all sharp canine-like teeth, molars in back, front teeth dig in and tear flesh, back teeth hold and crush; can exert a bite force of 1,000 lbs (greater force may be expected further in development with possible modification)_

**_Build_**_: 4'8'', expected to grow to a height of 6'4'' (tail is expected to match in order to maintain balance and be used for combat purposes); claws grow in place of nails, extremely sharp; vocal cords adapted, allowing communication between himself and raptors and humans; long tail, extremely strong, can be used for attacks, defense, and allows him to keep balance in difficult situations_

**_Abilities/Modifications_**_: Super-strength (more modification will be done later to see if it can be improved), super-speed (more modification may be done to improve), scales modified to be bulletproof and fireproof combined with already present invulnerability from maternal donor, detailed night vision, infrared vision, extreme intelligence, can smell prey up to 5 miles away, extremely sensitive hearing, claws modified to cut through titanium (will be improved through modification). Other powers—possible (modification and genetic manipulation will be further used to see)_

**_Other Notes: _**_Subject A1 has displayed heightened intelligence allowing him to quickly adapt to new situations and devise plans for attack and/or escape. Remains hostile towards combative trainers and other researchers besides myself, Dr. Rosenberg, and D.S. A1 will escape given the opportunity and return to the raptor pack (often leading capture teams to death). Has mauled several of the guards ordered to transport to testing. Restraints and security measures have been doubled._

_A1 is recommended for Stage 2. _

"Interesting, seems like my investments into Dr. Wu's work were successful after all," Luthor smiled. Skimming the remaining pages, his smile grew wider. These results were even better than what he'd been expecting. "Mercy, I'd like to see Dr. Wu in my office about finally bringing the Asset X Project into the Light."


	5. Strange Visitor

Chapter 4

**A/N: I just own this story, I don't own YJ or the JPS.**

**/comm/**

**_Telepathy_**

**_"_****Raptor"**

**Isla Sorna: July 15, 9:45**

Nightmare purred lightly as he felt the sun warming his scales, some air moved by his cheek, making some of his hair to tickle his nose. Opening his eyes he sat up to see Titania looking down at him.

**"****Morning,"** he said wagging his tail.

**"****Get up, we're going hunting,"** she said and he pouted.

With a sigh, the fourteen-year-old got up with a yawn. Stretching, he felt his tail curl over his head, making him smile and bat playfully at the appendage.

**"****Nightmare!"**

Freezing, Onyx looked to see his mother glaring at him, immediately making him drop his tail as a red flush emerged from around his scales.

He got to his feet and trotted over to the rest of the pack as they gathered for the hunting trip.

**"****Everyone ready?"** Titania questioned getting chitters and chirps in reply. **"Let's go, we're heading for the plains today, the prey will have returned by now after the spines' scare."**

Onyx grinned, sprinting through the forest as they made their way towards the open fields most of the herbivores fed in. Coming to the edge, they crouched downwind looking out towards the heard, figuring out which one was going to be unfortunate enough to be eaten.

**"****There's an injured on the edge of the curved horned herd."**

Nightmare looked in the direction his pack-mate mentioned. There was a herd of Nasutoceratops; the one they were looking at was walking with a limp, its head hanging lower than the rest and its scales were less colorful. It was weaker than the rest and it wouldn't be able to get away. The perfect prey.

The trick would just be making sure they weren't trampled or skewered.

**"****It's close to the forest, we could ambush it from the back,"** Onyx suggested.

Titania gazed out calculatingly. **"Nightmare, you and five of the others go around, start an attack. Separate it and herd it towards us. Talon, you take half the pack and get the sick crested-head."**

Nodding, Nightmare motioned to Camo and several others before they quickly darted through the brush. Coming around the back they crouched down.

**"****Spread out and flank it,"** Nightmare ordered and the others nodded. Doing as the Beta directed they spread out and watched the rest of the pack get into position across the field.

Baring his teeth, the hybrid growled as he and others began slowly emerging from the brush. One of the horned creatures released a warning call, and they all started running away, their target falling near the back.

With a screech, Nightmare and the others lunged after the fleeing animals. Sprinting ahead, he and Camo began to run between the large beasts, separating the weaker member. It would tire soon, and then it would be easier to herd towards the pack.

His claws effortlessly tore through the back leg as he passed by, dragging them up the side as Camo ran past, attempting to bite the face. The food gave a pained cry as is split off from the other stampeding herbivores.

The pair pulled away as the other members of the party came it at from the other side forcing it to go the direction they wanted it to go. The Nasutoceratops ran through the brush and right into the trap. Titania and several other raptors hopped in front of it, forcing it to stop. It seemed to try and run to either direction, but other raptors appeared there was well as the herders caught up.

This is where things got dangerous.

The Nasutoceratops gave several grunts, pawing the ground angrily before it charged swinging its horns. Several raptors dodged out of the way as others rushed it, slashing, biting, and clawing at its exposed sides. Swinging its massive head around, Nightmare winced as he watched a few of his packmates get smacked aside by its tail. Thankfully they got up a split second later, irritated and angry, but alive.

Nightmare hissed before he charged in to play his part. He was the strongest in the pack, meaning he distracted the prey as the pack attacked. Grabbing its horns, he dug his heels into the ground and held the food's head in place as his pack began killing it.

The Nasutoceratops began screeching and attempting to thrash its head wildly. Baring his teeth with a loud growl, he yanked its head down towards the ground sideways, forcing the rest of the creature to follow in order to avoid snapping its neck. This exposed its belly, allowing them to hit the weakest point and slice it open. Releasing it, Onyx backed away before its horns could hit his arms as it swung its massive head up with a cry before it released its last agonized breath.

The pack began eagerly digging in, and Nightmare and several others began working the tail off to take back to the hatchlings and their babysitters. Finally clawing it off, Onyx hefted the severed limb over his shoulder before nodding to his mother and beginning the trek back to the nest.

As he made his way back, he sniffed the air before growling. What was a human doing back on the island?

"That was quite a hunt."

Whirling around and dropping the tail, Nightmare bared his teeth and snarled at the woman from a few days ago. Now having a real chance to look at her, he could see she was dressed in some sort of colorful one-piece with red and white boots, but what caught his attention was the metal cuffs on her wrists and circle on her head. Did she used to be held captive too?

He shook his head, that didn't matter, she was one of the ones who was helping the humans that took Grey. She was a trespasser and an enemy.

The human female smiled taking a step closer, making him growl and his hair fluffed up. "Alright, I'll back away," she said taking a couple steps back, holding her hands up. She didn't reach for the rope she used on him and the alpha during their fight.

He let his hair fall, but he kept his eyes on her. He wasn't going to lead her back to the nest.

"You did very good in your hunt there young one," she continued slowly sitting down on a log across from him. "That was a brilliant plan to separate your target from the rest of the group to lead them into a trap, as well as your impressive feat of strength. My sisters would have approved."

Nightmare backed away, using his tail to pick the food up. Her posture was relaxed, indicating she had no intention of attack, but that didn't mean he was going to stay and find out the contrary.

"Don't go," she said getting up. "I'm not going to hurt you sweetie."

Nightmare bolted.

-.-

**July 17, 15:37**

Diana flew above the island looking down, hoping to spot the velociraptor pack, or at least the young teenager running with them. He wasn't at the compound with the raptors babysitting that had almost spotted her, meaning he was somewhere else on the island.

Ok, so she had to think, the nest just had a fresh kill nearby, meaning the pack had gone hunting not too long ago. The only thing that they would leave the safety of their hold would be for water or to defend their territory. And considering she hadn't heard any roaring or fighting it was safe to assume they were going towards water.

Looking down below her, she could see several bodies of water on the island. There was the plains' lake, surrounded by herbivores, and there were a few rivers. The closest river to the nest was by the aviary, so in all odds the pack had to be there.

Flying over, she landed quietly in a tree and looked around, listening: there were calls from numerous birds, screeches that had to come from whatever was in that birdcage, there was hissing that sounded like it belonged to a crocodile, and…there, the quiet calls of raptors. Hopping between the branches, she moved along the river, to spot the pack a few hundred yards in front of her.

Something wasn't right.

In her previous visits observing the pack and trying to earn the boy's trust, the raptors were normally quite vocal and seemed to be rarely ever on edge; this was different, they were stiff, nervously observing their surroundings before taking a drink, and even then, a max of eight would be drinking from the water as the rest of this large pack kept watch.

She could see the boy in a tree nearby, on a branch high above the water. His tail dangled down, the tip flicking every now and then as he watched the surface with…his eyes were different. In Diana's previous observations she noticed his eyes were human-like, white sclera surrounding a round iris where his raptor traits probably gave it the gold coloring and the slit pupils, but now they were solid gold, almost glowing.

The boy pulled her out of her confused thoughts as he craned his neck, spotting something she couldn't in the water. He gave a sort grunt, causing a lot of the raptors' heads to snap towards the water, and the several that were drinking lifted their heads, going quiet.

Diana could probably cut the tension hanging in the suddenly silent air with her sword. Looking towards the boy, she could see he had moved into a crouch on his branch, hair fluffed up and tail still as he watched the water's surface.

Then he screamed loud enough for her to cover her ears.

All at once the pack of raptors bolted back from the river's edge, and Diana watched as something big slowly broke the surface. It looked like a crocodile on venom, the head alone was big enough she bet it probably ate things larger than raptors regularly. The large beast's eyes looked at the pack, before the head dove back under the water with barely a ripple.

The boy watched the water for a while longer, before he suddenly jumped out of the tree and away from the river with a quick bark and the rest of the pack retreated further, watching warily.

Looking away from the raptors, Diana paled as she saw what they had to be looking at, even through the dark water, she could see the shadow of something large, something much bigger than the steroid-gator, moving through the water.

Dozens of amphibious creatures began emerging from the river frantically as the shadow drew close, and she could only watch as a pair of smaller animals that looked like a blue alligator with a fish-like tale started getting out as the thing leapt from the water, its massive jaws closing down on one.

Diana had seen on of these before on a trip with Bruce, Clark, and Dick to Jurassic World; a Mosasaurus. This one was significantly smaller than the one in the park had been, but even then, that left a large monster.

With its thrashing prey in its jaws, the massive creature began turning around from where it appeared to have beached itself, before it slipped down into the depths.

By the time she turned away to watch the raptors again, they were gone.

-.-

**July 23, 12:04**

Nightmare sprawled out basking in the sunlight. Lying around after a hunt had always been one of his favorite times of day. However, he did have to be careful to avoid showing his pale, non-scaled skin for too long because when he was out too long it turned red and hurt and sometimes began shedding. First time he had done it, Titania had nearly choked on her own tail because she was so confused as to why he was suddenly shedding when he never had done so before. Now whenever a pack member noticed he was getting even slightly pink, they dragged him by his tail into the shade because of said incident.

Hearing movement, Nightmare opened his eyes tiredly and reluctantly lifted his head. Whoever was stupid enough to wake him was going to pay. Not immediately spotting anyone, he sat up with a yawn and looked around. Most of his pack was basking in similar sunlight spots as he was that were randomly scattered around the forest, others were napping in groups in the shade closer to the nest, and he could hear some playing with the hatchlings inside.

So what the hell woke him?

"I didn't mean to wake you."

Turning his head, Nightmare was suddenly wide awake. The weird human was back. He hadn't seen her since she interrupted his hunt a few days ago and scared away his prey. He sprung to his feet and prepared to lash out with his claws.

"Whoa, easy," she said quietly holding out her hands and kneeling down in a spot that was way too close for his tastes, "I promise, I won't hurt you. I just want to help you."

Baring his teeth, the teen hissed at her, and she backed away. She didn't want him to call the rest of the pack, she needed to earn his trust.

A shriek made her head snap over to see the alpha raptor growling at her and others getting up.

"I'll be back!" she said before…she flew away?

**"****Nightmare?! Are you ok?!"**

**"****I'm fine,"** Onyx replied nuzzling her muzzle before she licked his cheek.

**"****Good, call me if that human shows up again, don't just sit there like a newborn hatchling."**

**"****Yes Alpha."**

-.-

**July 26, 21:55**

Wonder Woman landed on a branch and watched the compound, wiping some of her wet hair out of her face as the rain poured around her. Through the broken windows she could see the pack of raptors sleeping inside, near the center, curled in a ball was the boy. Seems she got here too late after all, she was hoping he'd still be awake when she arrived.

It would be too risky to try to get close with the rest of the pack practically smothering him with how tightly clustered they were. And with her soaking wet, the chances of her accidently waking another raptor wouldn't even let the thought of trying cross her mind.

So far her efforts in gaining the boy's trust had been met with mixed results. He'd was wary and refused to let her get close; if she did, then he would lash out and leave a scratch Bruce would need to stitch up later. However, recently he had stopped trying to attack her, so she took that as a good sign.

The heroine pressed her lips together in thought as an idea came to her.

Perhaps if she brought him something on her next visit, he might be curious enough to let her get close. This way she could truly show him that he wasn't going to be hurt.

-.-

**July 28, 10:37**

Nightmare lifted his head as the scent of the strange flying woman came back. Looking around he spotted her sitting on a branch of a nearby tree. "You certainly like to sunbathe. Can't say I blame you," she smiled slowly floating down, "I did it all the time at my home whenever I had free time. The beach was always my favorite place. With the sand and the sound of the waves. Tell me, what sounds do you prefer? Waves or jungle? Maybe you like the sound of rain."

This caused the teen to tilt his head with a small rumble, what in the world was she talking about?

The woman chuckled before she pulled a small baggie out of a satchel on her hip. "I thought I'd bring you something, so I thought you'd like jerky," she said gently pulling a piece of…it looked like meat that had dried after it had spent many days in the sun. Only, this meat had a strange smell, most old meat smelled bad and made predators sick. This didn't smell like that. She took a bite of the one she held out, before pulling out another piece. "Do you want a bite? I have plenty to share."

The teen slowly moved into a crouch, silently debating on getting closer.

"How about if I do this?" the woman said setting the piece of dried meat down and slowly backing away, taking bites of her own.

Onyx slowly crept forwards gently taking the piece between his claws. Sticking his tongue out, the teen licked it cautiously before pulling his head away in surprise. It was…God what was it? It didn't taste like normal meat, and it made his mouth burn.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he bit down on one end and began pulling, the meat was much more stringy than good meat and thus harder to pull apart. Shaking his head from side-to-side he eventually pulled a piece off before swallowing it.

This proved to be a poor decision on his part, because he began coughing at the fire entering his mouth.

"Are you ok?" the woman asked coming up to him as he hacked.

Weakly hissing he scrambled back as he continued coughing. Getting far enough away, Nightmare shoved the rest into his mouth, attempting to chew the meat despite the heat and managing to swallow it. Which successfully started another coughing fit as the woman wore a look between bemusement and concern.

She gave a sigh and her shoulders drooped. "Maybe I shouldn't have taken Green Arrow's jerky, he always has the spicy stuff," she muttered to herself before smiling at him again, ignoring the somewhat irritated bark he gave. "Tell you what, next time I'll bring you something less spicy! Maybe chocolate! Ice cream won't survive the journey, but chocolate will! Trust me, you will love chocolate!"

The boy's hair fluffed up, not sure what to make of her tone, it was something he'd never heard a human use. Well…no human other than his old Caretaker, she used to sound like that too when talking about something she would consider a good idea and then it would later turn out to either be right or go horribly wrong.

Though, the result this time was his own fault; he did choose to accept the food and paid the price. While he wasn't sure he wanted to accept offerings again, she did mention chocolate.

"That's what I'll bring you! I shall see you next time young hunter," the woman waved before flying off into the sky.

Nightmare sighed tiredly, curling back up in his sunny spot, maybe if he was lucky she wouldn't be back for a while yet.


	6. The Boy of the Island

Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys, I'd love to hear some reviews from y'all. I hope y'all enjoy the newest chapter of Half-Breed! Remember, I just own my OCs.**

**/comm/**

**_Telepathy_**

**"****Raptor"**

**Mt. Justice: August 1, 11:39**

/Team Report to mission room/ Batman called.

"Wonder what we're being sent on now," Wally said. "Hopefully not another rescue mission."

"Dude, that so called 'rescue mission' was a normal mission in itself. Nothing like finding an ambassador running away from velociraptors while running away from a spinosaurus," Robin reminded.

"True," he nodded.

The team suited up and went out to the mission room where Batman stood waiting. "Some time ago you had a mission, where you found a young man of approximately thirteen to fifteen years of age," Batman said showing the photo Robin took of the mystery metahuman. "You mission is to retrieve him."

"Wait, you're sending us back to that death trap after someone who can vanish into the jungle like Boy Wonder here and who runs with the velociraptors!" Kid Flash said.

"And I've thought of that," Batman said. "Robin has knockout gas, when you find the pack or just him use it."

"Oh."

"Justice League scanners have managed to define the areas the large predators tend to roam," the Dark Knight continued as map of the island with several colored regions. "Now, the red is what you want to focus on, this is the velociraptor's range. However, many predators roam this island ranging in size of the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Spinosaurus to ankle height. There are also non-dinosaur predators, including Gastornus, Entelodon, and Smilodon. And whatever you do, do not go in the water, the number of predators triples as amphibious carnivores, the aquatic predators, and Spinosaur and related species hunt in these areas."

"But the raptor range; it's all over the island," Superboy said.

"Yes, the velociraptors have the largest territory range, running through every territory besides the aviary. However, you want to focus on these areas." The majority of the highlights disappeared and only several remained. "The raptors are most commonly spotted in these locations, this is where you'll most likely find your target. Get going."

"We're on our way," Aqualad said.

-.-

**Isla Sorna**

Onyx yawned as he woke up, he could see the sunlight streaming through the broken windows of the old InGen complex. Looking around he saw the rest of the pack was gone, probably hunting, feeling squirming next to his side he looked and saw the hatchlings cuddled up against his side and tail as the extremity was curled around them.

**"****Nightmare!"** Grey squeaked seeing his elder brother awake. He was the only hatchling of Titania's litter to survive the seasonal storms and scavengers, despite the babysitters always on watch, and since the only other hatchlings were Wisp's he stayed with them; but at least he always had his big brother to keep him company.

**"****Hey Grey, how ya feeling?"** he asked nudging the runt of the litter with his nose.

The grey raptor squeaked indignantly as he stumbled, before headbutting the hybrid's cheek in retaliation. **"I'm fine, still hurts a little. Hey! Can we play hide and seek?!"**

**"****I'd like to eat first, speaking of which, where's everyone else?"**

**"****Hunting,"** an albino hatchling named Star chirped. **"Auntie Titania left you in charge of us!"**

Onyx rolled his eyes, that's what his mother always did when he slept late, she left him in charge of the nest and the little rascals.

**"****So can we play?"**

**"****Yeah let's play!"**

**"****Hide and seek!"**

**"****Tag!"**

**"****Hide and seek tag!"**

**"****Predator and prey!"**

He chuckled lightly as he watched the young raptors tackle each other as they fought over what game to play. Due to his small stature compared to the other hatchlings and his still healing leg he couldn't participate in the normal playfighting, so Grey opted to stay out and chose to curl in the warm space between his big brother's odd claws and strange chest letting the strong heartbeat lull him back to sleep.

Sniffing the air Nightmare caught the scent of the pack about three miles north. Wouldn't be long before they brought back the food, moving into a sunny spot, he laid back down and rested his head on his arms, his tail flicking lazily, enjoying basking in the sunlight.

Realizing his source of warmth was gone, Grey hissed and snuck over to Nightmare, pouncing he nipped on his brother's ear causing the elder to lift his head in shock. **"Grey…"**

**"****Nightmare?"**

**"****Here,"** he called seeing Camo walking in with a galimimus.

**"****We got this for you and the hatchlings,"** he said depositing the dead animal, ignoring the fact that the current babysitter had a hatchling nipping at his side.

**"****Breakfast!"** they all called running over, their playful fight all but forgotten.

**"****Thanks,"** Onyx nodded as his main hunting partner left and Grey darted over to the food. **"Hey guys, save some for me." **Ripping the leg off, he plopped back down in his sunny spot and started eating.

Finishing his meal, he looked over to see that the little ones had fallen into little food comas. Laughing lightly, he gathered the small hatchlings and placed them in an old cabinet he retrofitted to be a self-sufficient nest, fit with a few old couch pillows he found, some old blankets, and he put the latest kill along with a tub of water. A safe place to hide while the adults were out, or if there was a raid on the nest. He'd let them sleep, maybe the pack would be back soon so their parents could groom them.

Settling back down in the sun, enjoying the warmth and silence as he closed his eyes and slipped into his own doze. One that was soon broken by the not-so-quiet sound of a chopper. Stretching, he went to a broken window covered in vines and peered out before freezing, his hearing was right, it was a helicopter, multiple helicopters. All with the logos of _InGen_ or another one he's never heard of called _LexCorp._ Watching them, he bit his lip and felt his tail twitch as he saw the copters slow to a stop not far from the compound.

**"****Grey,"** he whispered nudging the sleeping hatchling.

**"****Nightmare?"** he asked with bleary eyes.

**"****Look, we're doing hide and shriek." **The little hatchling's eyes widened knowing the difference between the two games. **"Stay quiet, let the others know. If they find you, you know what to do."** He nodded watching as he closed the door.

Onyx ran out of the compound towards the north. **"HUMANS ON THE SOUTHSIDE OF THE ISLAND."**

He could hear the enraged call of his mother from where he stood. **"ALL HUNTING PARTIES RETURN TO THE NEST!"**

-.-

"Our target is most likely going to be at the compound. If you see A1 use a maximum of three, these are filled with small doses a sedative used to bring down the large assets in Jurassic World; we don't need him in a coma but sedated long enough to get him to our employer."

"Why?"

"Because his metabolic system was designed to burn through it faster than normal and one would only make him dizzy, two: he'll go down but it'll take longer; three should knock him out almost instantly. We think he could survive a fourth dose, but more than that will kill him; our orders are to retrieve him _alive_."

"What if we see the other raptors?"

"Hit them with one dart, they should be out long enough for us to catch A1, and remember, A1's scales will block your darts, aim for the exposed skin located on the torso, forearms, and below the knee. However, there is a chance he might be immune, so if you hit him and he doesn't go down, send a warning and switch to gas," the squad leader stopped as they heard raptor calls. "They know we're here! Move out!"

-.-

The Bioship flew over the island in camouflage mode. "Looks like we're not the only ones here," Artemis, now fully briefed on the situation, said pointing to a landed fleet of helicopters.

"InGen and LexCorp," Robin informed, "neither of which should be here."

"Isn't this island owned by Bruce Wayne?" Wally asked, while his tone held a playful edge, his eyes seethed with anger at Luthor for so obviously trespassing.

"Yeah," Robin said, "and I can guess only one thing valuable enough for Luthor to trespass so obviously."

"The hybrid," Aqualad said. "We have to work quickly. Miss Martian land in that clearing east of the compound."

-.-

Onyx knelt in the thick foliage watching the InGen personnel, he didn't know why, but he could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his breathing was shaky. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in years…fear.

Running back towards the compound, he joined up with the rest of the pack. **"There's at least twenty."**

**"****Any idea what they're here for?"** Titania asked and he shook his head. **"Spread out call if you spot them."**

Nodding they ran off, Onyx went into the thick jungle and climbed up into a tree. Sniffing the air he frowned, he could smell multiple humans nearby. Crouching on a branch, he slid his third eyelid into place switching to thermal vision. He could see several humans with guns moving slowly through the brush about thirty yards ahead.

/I got him/ one guy whispered carefully aiming his rifle at his arm. /Up in a tree/

/Take the shot, the first shot will startle and disorient him, he should remain coherent enough to keep himself from getting injured, once he's on the ground take the other shots. Remember, A1 is wanted _unharmed_/

A shot rang out and Onyx jumped as something slammed against his scales, looking down he grabbed the object on the branch next to him, a tranquilizer dart, he hated those things. Looking towards the direction the shot came from he saw the form of a human he missed in his initial scope. Crawling around the tree he jumped to the ground, two more shots rang out and he grunted as two more darts came out and nearly implanted themselves in his leg.

"USE THE GAS!"

The teen didn't have long to contemplate what that meant before three small cylinders were hurled by him. Impacting the ground, green gas began to hiss out. Coughing, he slid his third-eyelid into place and tried to reorient himself through the gaseous haze. More canisters landed in the area surrounding him releasing their contents into the air making it harder to breath.

Shaking off a sudden wave of dizziness, he ran, where he didn't care, just as long as he got away. As he raced through the jungle the dizziness got worse, along with a growing feeling of exhaustion. Stumbling, he tripped over a root and rolled down the hill. Landing painfully at the bottom as he slammed into a tree. He was pretty sure something was broken as he began scrambling to his feet. Upon getting to his feet, another wave of dizziness washed over him, making his knees give out. Black was creeping at the edge of his vison, and his limbs felt heavy…he couldn't run…he had…he had to get away from them, he couldn't go back to a cage.

The last thing he saw was a flash of a familiar set of red and white boots entering his vision and hearing a familiar voice before darkness engulfed him.

-.-

The team ran towards the sound of the gunshots. Flying up M'gann saw several men with guns. _"Aqualad there's four men, all armed, they seem to be chasing something."_

_"__Or someone," _Superboy stated.

"He's going northeast!" one guy called.

_"__Yo! Kaldur, you want us to take down these guys?"_

Aqualad contemplated for a moment. _"Do it, quickly."_

Nodding Robin and Kid Flash ran in, Wally hit two on the back of the head, and Robin dropped some knockout gas. All four were soon down for the count. _"Guys, look what I got,"_ Robin said holding a tranquilizer dart. _"This one has already hit a target, the needle's bent. How much you wanna bet it's our feral friend?"_

_"__I'll take a look around!"_ Wally said tossing on his thermal goggles and running off.

_"__I'll see if I can get anything from the air,"_ Miss M said flying up. Reaching out telepathically she could sense a lot more humans, animals, and…there! That one odd mind, one that no doubt belonged to their target. _"I've got him about five miles north."_

_"__Good, Kid head that way, we'll meet up with you there with the Bioship," _Aqualad ordered.

Running that way, Kid Flash tripped and rolled down the very hill that he rolled down the last time. Getting to the bottom he groaned, trees hurt. With a groan, he stumbled to his feet and froze as he saw the hybrid, lying nearby, no doubt unconscious; Wonder Woman was crouched over him, aiming a sword at the newcomer.

"Wallace?"

"Hi Diana."


	7. The Feral Child

Chapter 6

**A/N: I just own the story and my OC.**

**/comm/**

**"****Raptor"**

**_Telepathy_**

**Gulf of Mexico: August 1, 14:03**

Diana sat on the berth M'gann had made in the Bioship, her fingers slowly carding through the hybrid-child's tangled locks, her attention focused solely on him as the teens around her chattered. He still had yet to wake since she found him, but it wasn't a surprise, according to Robin's scans the teenager had been drugged, heavily.

Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't pray he'd wake up sooner. She could still see the look that had been in his eyes when she had finally located him all alone on the jungle floor, far from the safety of his pack. He had been absolutely terrified but was too weak to call to his pack for help. Once he woke up, Diana could reassure him that he was safe, he was well out of his attackers' reach.

Looking at her young friend closely, she could make out the pale gooseflesh slowly rising on the boy's pale, scale-less forearms. "M'gann, turn up the temperature a bit, he's getting cold," she ordered grabbing the blanket around his waist and pulling it up around his shoulders, and continued rubbing his head.

A small purr rumbled through him, as he butted her hand with his nose. Bringing her other hand up, she continued to rub the top of his head, letting her other hand lightly stroke his cheek.

-.-

Nightmare groaned as consciousness returned to him. He couldn't hear his pack, was he on hatchling duty again? Then again if he was on hatchling duty, he'd hear the little rascals, or at least feel them cuddling against him like they always did on the days he watched them. Instead of that he felt something…was it a sheet? He never slept under blankets, not since Caretaker left; and his head was warm, like it used to be when he'd cuddle next to a pack member.

"How far out are we?"

"About ten minutes. Why?"

"Cause I think he's waking up," a familiar voice said softly as something ran through his hair.

He was most definitely not at the nest. Shooting up, he instantly regretted the decision as the room spun, the edges of his vision fading to black momentarily as a result.

"Easy young one," Wonder Woman smiled, reaching out towards the startled and disoriented boy.

Onyx snarled, his hair bristling and tail starting to swing back and forth. **"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" **he growled lashing out with his claws sloppily causing the woman to pull her hand back.

Scrambling away from her, the ground supporting Nightmare suddenly gave way, causing his hurt, tired body to slam into the cold, unforgiving metal floors with a painful crack. Releasing a pained yelp, he got into a crouch and backed into a corner, holding his hurting wrist close to his chest and curling in on himself.

Where was his pack? Why wasn't he with them? Clearing his throat, Nightmare release a few barks calling for help. Going quiet he listened and started shifting into a fighting position, they'd be here soon, then he could go home. Only…Where was the reply? They always replied to distress calls, it was their way of letting each other know they were coming. Calling out again, he couldn't hide the pathetic whine creeping into his call. Where were they? They couldn't have abandoned him, Titania promised. His mom promised she wouldn't leave him to the humans.

So where was she?

Wonder Woman's heart dropped as slowly started moving towards him, her hands held up in a calming motion, as she tried to sooth the whimpering child. "It's ok," she said quietly, "We're not going hurt you, we just want to help."

Nightmare bared his fangs, yeah right. People never helped, people hurt.

A deep growl resounded throughout the ship, and the team looked at each other nervously. It seemed like he didn't understand what they were saying, which meant they couldn't calm him down, and they all knew what happened when an animal was cornered.

Kaldur gave M'gann a look and nodded to her. Understanding the silent order, the Martian girl turned her mind on his, and all Nightmare heard was _"I'm sorry about this,"_ before his world went black again.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: August 2, 9:10EDT**

The next time Onyx woke up, he was lying something soft. Opening his eyes he immediately shut them and covered his eyes from the blinding lights.

It took a few minutes, but, still shielding his eyes, he eventually sat up and peered around the bright, white room. Numerous different items of medical equipment were placed around the room, much like the lab used to be when the humans were on the island. He was also in a different pair of light blue pants, ones much longer than his old tattered pair that now chafed against skin that had been exposed to air for a while. He was also in some sort of matching shirt, the cloth feeling strange against his torso. And his wrist was stiff, looking at the hand he hurt, he found it wrapped in a stiff white cloth and a tube going into his arm on his elbow. It was uncomfortable, using his teeth he tried to pull it out, he didn't want it.

"Don't remove your IV, we don't want you hurting yourself again."

He sprang into a crouch, staring at a man in a dark suit with a symbol of a small animal whose name was escaping him at the moment. The shadow man took a step towards him and he bared his fangs, releasing a low snarl.

Batman stopped and analyzed the boy, he was confused and obviously afraid. Taking a step back he watched as he relaxed somewhat, the rate of the tail swinging slowing, and hair flattening from when it bristled up. But his eyes never left him.

"How did you end up on Isla Sorna?" Batman watched as he titled his head, apparently confused. It was possible that the boy couldn't understand them. The boy had been alone on the Five Deaths for who knows how long going through Lord knows what, but he still needed to give it a try. "I promise that no one is going to hurt you here."

In response, Onyx fumbled to yank out the IV, ignoring the pain in his arm and took a few steps away hissing lowly. He wanted to keep distance between them. He had no reason to trust the people who took him from his home, his pack, his family. He was not going to trust people who tossed him in a cage.

"How did you get on the island?"

At the question, Onyx growled, why couldn't this man leave him be? It wasn't hard to tell he wasn't going to say anything.

Batman sighed and moved to a cabinet; the teen wasn't going to be answering any questions, at least not today. Pulling out a water bottle, he opened it, and set it on a small dinner tray before stepping away from it. "Here, you're probably thirsty."

Even with the prospect of soothing his parched throat he didn't approach. In fact, the teen backed further away into the corner baring his sharp fangs with a hiss as he pressed his palm to his injured arm, trying to staunch the blood flow.

"May I treat your wound?" he tried, making his tone a little less sharp. The bleeding injury looked jagged from where the teen ripped out the needle feeding him fluids to get the drugs out of his body.

Receiving a piercing shriek in reply, Batman stepped out of the room and joined Black Canary, Wonder Woman, and Red Tornado in the viewing room where they could keep an eye on their guest. "He's afraid," Canary remarked.

"Traumatized is more the word I'm thinking, but yes, he is scared," Batman replied, watching as the teen went back to the bed, starting to explore the room cautiously. "Anything back on the scans and tests?"

"A few things," Tornado replied. "First of all is his DNA: he's a hybrid of human and dinosaur DNA, specifically the velociraptor. Which would make sense considering that he was found among the primary pack."

"And identification?" Dinah frowned.

"Nothing off the missing persons' database by facial recognition, we may want to test the human half of his DNA, the velociraptor DNA could've altered his appearance. But other than that and the fact he's probably scared out of his mind, he's very healthy. There's a few signs that he's broken bones, but they seem to reset themselves all correctly. Currently he's broken his wrist and has two fractured ribs we'll need to monitor. He has antibodies for diseases he would've needed to be vaccinated for, as well as a few other diseases that we should vaccinate the team for because of their missions. No signs of malnourishment; however, he has a few vitamin deficiencies, most likely due to his diet. There's some scarring I am concerned about. Other than that, he's a picture of health."

They heard a crash and looked in to see that their young friend had accidently turned on the tv while he was investigating his surroundings. Causing him to jump back and knock over some of the equipment. Jumping onto the bed, he hit the bed controls and it started moving, making him cry out before falling off the bed. He stood up, his tail swinging angrily, and he knocked out a tray across the room.

"I'll go in, maybe he'll talk to me," Canary sighed and went to the door.

Diana put a hand on the other heroine's shoulder. "Let me come with, he's known me longer."

Dinah was quiet for a moment. "Does he trust you?"

"Not yet, but I don't think he's scared of me anymore," she replied. "He stopped trying to attack me during my visits to the island, even started to get curious."

"Let me try for now, we don't want him to get overwhelmed," Canary replied. "Besides, with his reactions on the Bioship, he could end up attacking you. I doubt he has much trust to offer anyone at this point."

Wonder Woman looked like she wanted to protest, but she stood down nodding in agreement. Black Canary was unfortunately correct, she likely lost those precious pieces of trust he graciously offered when he woke up on that ship. He had every reason to be terrified of her.

Knocking lightly, Dinah went in and saw that he froze in place, much like a little kid who was caught doing something they shouldn't.

"You've made quite the mess," Canary chuckled slowing moving to the tray pick it up. "But it was an accident, you're probably not that used to being inside a small lab like this." Setting the tray on a far counter, she then slowly moved for the bed. As she moved closer, she noticed he was getting more fidgety and started baring his fangs more. Slowly she grabbed the tv remote and held it up. "You want to leave this on?"

Onyx tilted his head releasing a few curious clicks, that was the box he was messing with when the screen turned on; did the small box control the it in some way? All the screens he'd seen had a small keyboard and pad, not a small box of buttons.

"There's more channels if you don't want to watch this," Canary said going to more kid and teen friendly stations.

She pressed a button and the screen changed making him jump onto all fours in surprise, but it did confirm his suspicion that the small box controlled the screen.

Dinah held back a chuckle as his eyes went wide, apparently he'd never been around a tv before, but it was good to see that she may be getting somewhere. Taking the opportunity, she got closer while he was distracted and moved to the bed. Picking up the roll of gauze, she sat down and started to unwrap a piece.

Feeling the bed move, Onyx realized his mistake, he took his eyes off her. He was too fascinated with the screen displaying things other than stats, models, equations, and words. Backing away, he growled lowly, sinking into a crouch and lifting his tail in preparation to jump.

As his sudden hostility became apparent, she set the bandages back down and picked up the rest of the equipment. Putting the remote next to the water bottle, she moved towards the door, having overstayed her welcome.

"He seemed more relaxed around you," Batman commented as she rejoined them.

"You probably intimidated him," she scolded.

"We need to know what happened to him."

"The question is: Does he even know?" Canary asked watching the boy as he seemed to be slowly calming down. "For all we know he's been like this since before he can remember, or he has amnesia."

"We still have to try."

"I know, look, let's gain his trust first," she replied. "Diana, you've visited the island regularly correct?"

"As often as I could to try and build trust."

"Then I'll need your help."

"I'd be happy to."

In the room Onyx curled up on the bed quietly, his tail tapping beside him as a sense of unease filled him. He could tell that the man and the woman were behind the mirror talking, he couldn't hear what but it was definitely about him. It wasn't the first time he was observed through a reflecting window.

Wrinkling his nose, the teen started licking the blood off his arm. He should've known better than to do that; it wasn't the first time he'd ripped out an IV. Hopefully it wouldn't be bad enough to require getting help from his kidnappers. It didn't look like it, thankfully, the bleeding already seemed to be slowing down.

Once he finished cleaning, he peered at the buttoned remote at the end of his nest. Slowly, he reached out an arm and tapped it with a claw, yanking his arm back before any trap it had could get him. Craning his neck, he sniffed it before swatting at it again, seeing if a harder impact would do anything.

Nothing happened.

Nightmare gave a small growl as he looked at it, he wanted to mess with it and see what it did, but at the same time he knew that it could still be a trick. The golden-haired lady could've been messing with it to lure him into a false sense of security.

She was nice but looks could be deceiving. The other guy seemed scary—and considering the things he'd seen that was saying something—he couldn't afford to give these people his trust.

Though…the lady smelled like the flying one who called herself Wonder Woman, perhaps she was waiting somewhere nearby? She was nice, she treated him like he wasn't…something else other than human; she just held a small conversation, didn't question anything, and was respectful.

Maybe they'd let him see the flying one, he liked her, she reminded him of Caretaker.

But now that just made him feel homesick, he wanted to go back to the island. Why couldn't he just go home?


	8. Friend or Foe

Chapter 7

**A/N: I just own this story. Onyx is my OC. I do not own YJ or JW.**

**_Telepathy_**

**_/comm/_**

**Mt. Justice: August 5, 20:44EDT**

Canary sighed as she looked at the monitor, looked like Tornado's battle was going to take longer than she thought, so much for that date with Oliver.

Hearing a thud, she looked through the window to see the sleeping hybrid's tail had slid off the bed and was now flicking every now and then from where it lazily hung.

She chuckled lightly. Despite how she could see that the teen was trying to hide himself behind a brave and ferocious mask, his tail was just so expressive. It was easy to see his emotions just by how his tail moved; the appendage was quite helpful when trying to figure out how this situation was affecting his mental state.

So far, from what she could tell through his body language, he was absolutely terrified. The boy didn't trust them as far as he could throw them, and the only time anyone could get within arm's reach was when he was sleeping. And even then, they had to hope he wouldn't wake up. He'd bitten Bruce when he tried to collect a new DNA sample, hard enough to where the Bat was not going to be using his left arm in crime fighting for a few weeks till the bones healed. Red Tornado proved to be a worse option after the boy had almost shredded his chest up with his claws. Clark had offered to help, but only ended up being attacked after their young guest's obvious warnings. And after the tail broke Clark's nose with a single hit they stopped trying to get close.

Her daily sessions with him had been going almost nowhere as well. The good news was he wasn't nearly as hostile with her as he was with men, leading her to believe he'd probably had more bad experiences with men rather than women, but he was still hostile. At least he could stand being in the same room with her for a prolonged period of time rather than outright attacking as he had with Clark and Red Tornado. Though, she hadn't yet figured out why he hadn't immediately attacked Batman like the other men.

Dinah sighed. Maybe she would take up Diana's offer to be in the room with her during the sessions. Her advice had been helpful in getting their young guest to calm down and her ability to fluently speak any language—including animals—would no doubt be handy, but Canary wanted to try working with him more one-on-one. She had to try and offer an equal ground to show he could trust her. She wasn't sure she wanted to see what would happen if he was suddenly outnumbered.

There was a rap on the door, and it slid open, revealing a certain blonde, arrow-themed vigilante. "Dinah, you ready?" Oliver Queen asked walking in.

"Unfortunately, we'll have to rain check," she replied.

The blonde vigilante raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Someone has to keep an eye on our guest, we don't want him accidentally hurting himself," she replied motioning to the teen, "again."

Looking in his eyes widened, as a superhero he'd seen a lot, but this was new. It wasn't like he hadn't seen dinosaurs, his late friend Simon Masrani had invited him to the park on numerous occasions, and he gladly accepted all of his invitations. He brought Dinah, Roy and his sister Thea on a few trips, and even they joined Bruce and Dick on a couple of theirs.

Now that he thought about it, Masrani was joking about making a hybrid, but it was always just a dinosaur hybrid, not a human-dinosaur hybrid. Too bad it was that idea that got him killed.

"Oli?" Canary asked noticing how the normally talkative man went quiet.

"Was Masrani…?"

"No, Bruce believes it was Dr. Wu doing it without Masrani's knowledge," she replied.

Oliver nodded, he knew his friend would never condone this; Wu on the other hand…wouldn't surprise him, that man didn't stop his experiments even after the incident of the first park. "Alright, I'll change the reservations, maybe we can catch a movie after you get out," he said pecking her on the cheek.

"No need, I can take over," Diana smiled walking in holding an oversized duffel.

"You sure?" Canary asked raising an eyebrow, her arrival was awfully convenient.

"It's no problem Dinah, you go have fun," she smiled patting her friend's shoulder.

"What's with the bag?" Oliver asked.

"Just some games, see if I can get him to interact with us in a way other than aggression."

The male vigilante's eyes widened and he pointed at the boy in the room, "Was he the one who broke Clark's nose?"

"And Bruce's arm," Dinah replied as Oliver whistled.

"Kid's got fight," he commented, "can't say I blame him, living alone on an island's rough. I don't think I could've done it at his age."

"Alright you two, go on your date," Diana smiled pushing them towards the door.

"Alright, oh, his food's in that cabinet, he hasn't been eating much of what's been kept cold, but he seems to be starting to be able cooked meat down, which is an improvement."

"You haven't given him anything raw?" Diana offered.

"We started to when we realized he couldn't eat more cooked meat than a few bites of steak without getting sick," Dinah replied. "We're trying to ease him into it, but he has to be kept on the IV till he stops getting sick. Unfortunately, every time he wakes up he rips it out again."

"Dinah."

"Alright, I'm going now, let us know if anything comes up."

Diana smiled softly rolling her eyes before looking back to see her young island friend was starting to wake-up, so much for hoping he would sleep longer. Going to the cabinet she pulled out the food and set it on a tray. Knocking lightly on the door, she walked in to see him yawning, displaying his sharp fangs.

Rubbing his eyes, Nightmare flicked his tail, before focusing on the IV in his arm again, trying to be more careful than the last few times he pulled it out. Nonetheless, he still ended up with another jagged injury. As he licked another of his wounds, a recognizable scent became barely noticeable over the tang of iron. Looking towards the door to see the flying woman again. She was holding a tray and he could see a small slice of meat, some leaves, and a cup of water. "Did you sleep well?"

Onyx just curled his tail closer to him, and watched her closely, tilting his head; where had she been? She visited him all the time on the island, so what changed? Was it the fact he was in a cage again? Was that her job? Was she sent there to lure him into a trap?

Seeing him bare his teeth at her after a moment, Wonder Woman felt her shoulders droop, so much for making progress; he seemed just as wary now as he was before. His confusion during his rescue must've made her lose a few of precious fragments of trust he'd given her. However, he wasn't growling, so that could be considered a step forwards in the right direction. "I brought you some food. I promise, it's not as spicy as the jerky," she said slowly getting closer to the small tv tray near the bed.

Onyx growled lowly, she was getting close, too close for his liking.

Diana stopped, waiting for him to make a move. If she was going to get anywhere with earning his trust again, he had to make the first move this time around.

Another growl came from him, and it was not his vocals. Apparently, his stomach was not in the mood to deal with his boycott of whatever these people were offering. Though…he would need his strength if he was to escape. Resigning, he slowly got up from the bed and looked at the tray in her hands.

Smiling, she set the tray on the counter and backed up.

Cautiously approaching he took the meat and the water, why she brought him plants he'll never know. Curling up back on the bed he watched her, he honestly didn't want to let his guard down while he was alone with her, not even to eat.

Seeing the situation Diana nodded, it was a step. "Do you want me to lower the lights, I'm sure having them this bright must be uncomfortable?"

Onyx nodded warily, giving a tired warble in reply. His head was pounding from the consistent, throbbing headache resulting from the ridiculously bright room.

She smiled lightly seems Bruce's hunch was right after all, he could understand them, meaning Clark now owed her a hundred bucks. She then darkened room to a level that would be comfortable before finding a station that played "sounds of the jungle" or whatever they called it. Hopefully it would be more encouraging for him to fall back asleep; poor thing hadn't been sleeping consistently since he arrived. He'd only slept in short increments of half an hour at most; and if he didn't get some real sleep soon he was going to get sick. Well, sicker.

Onyx licked the remainder of the meat off his claws, it was smaller—far, far smaller—than the amount he usually consumed. A small green one would provide more meat than that, but hey, food is food. Just as long as it sated his stomach. However, there was no way he was ever going to eat a plant.

Grabbing the glass, he sniffed it cautiously, he remembered how the doctor would slip something in his drink, next thing he knew he was waking up and there would be bandages on some part of his body and he always felt weak and sick. Hopefully they didn't do the same. Taking the water, he slowly drank it, before setting the glass on the nearby table and curling back up on the bed.

Hearing the door open again, Nightmare gave a soft sigh and lifted his head. He just wanted to be left alone, was that too much to ask?

Seeing he was finished with his meal, Diana walked back in carefully putting the finished glass and plate onto the tray, before she moved it to the table next to the door. "You were hungry, weren't you?" she smiled slowly picking up the surprise she brought—the real trick had been hiding her presents from the Batman, but she pulled it off by some miracle. "I brought something for you, I know it can be pretty boring in here without something to do."

Tilting his head, Nightmare gave a soft croon of confusion as he looked over the objects. He'd never seen anything like the book she was holding. It was so colorful, yet, all pictures inside it were blank. There was also a thing of just as colorful writing utensils that looked like what the scientists used to take notes during his tests. All the books he saw held pictures and words or blank lines he would need to write on.

"It's a coloring book," Wonder Woman explained opening a page and setting it on her lap as she sat across from him, making sure he could see the pictures, "you take one of these color pencils and…" she trailed off removing a pencil, coloring in the some of the circles on the patterned page, "like that. I wasn't sure what you'd like so I got you the ones my friends always use."

Slowly putting the box of pencils in the book, she slowly set it on the table at the end of the bed. Fortunately, he was more curious today, so she wasn't lashed at as she intruded on his territory. She watched as he slowly used his tail to pull it off the end table, letting it fall onto the bed and using the extra extremity to pull it closer like he was scared it would be taken away.

"I also brought you this," she grunted yanking the massive plush teddy bear out of the bag, "these rooms can get pretty cold, so I figured this big heated bear might keep you warmer."

If it wasn't for how'd nervous she'd been in hoping he'd accept her offerings, she would've found his shocked expression funny. Now she was only hoping that he trusted her enough to receive the gifts.

His big gold eyes stared at the large plush in wonder, Diana set it down across from him and watched silently as he carefully bat at it like a cat would bat at mouse or toy, looking for a reaction. Seeming satisfied that the bear wasn't going to jump him, he pulled it closer, before she smiled as he gave what she had to assume was squawk as he felt the bear before rubbing up against the extra soft plush with loud purrs.

She pulled out the button to turn on the heater and turned it on, smiling as he settled closer to the bear. "This'll turn the heat off and on," she said holding up the button and setting it across from him before digging back into the bag. "I brought a book of my favorite Greek legends. Do you want me to read them?"

At her question, Onyx lifted his head from the fluffy heaven and released a few short clicks to express his curiosity. He'd never heard of a legend before, hopefully they were like the books Caretaker read him. Some of his personal favorites when he was a hatchling were by Dr. Seuss. Though, Caretaker never explained what those creatures that this Dr. Seuss showed in his books were, she told him they came from "Imagination" but she never explained what that place was like, and he couldn't find it on any of the world maps the Doctor showed him. Was it really as colorful as the books showed?

For Diana, his reaction was highly encouraging, at the mention of reading something he perked up right away; much like how she used to when she had been a child wanting her mother to tell her stories of the gods and the great heroes of old. Hiding her growing smile, she opened up to the story of the war between the gods and the titans and began reading.

Nightmare pulled the plush animal closer as he listened to the story with curiosity. It was nothing like what Caretaker read him, but it was interesting nonetheless. Though these stories were more confusing that Dr. Seuss' recounting of the wonderous land of Imagination, how could one parent eat all its offspring? And how were they still alive when the parent's head was cut off? And how could a hatchling be born out of one's head? Was it a parasite? How did this "Zeus" survive? Did he really live up in the sky? Was he not worried a pterosaur would eat him? Why did he never see any of these creatures on the islands? What about this Poseidon? How did he not get eaten by all the beasts lurking under the water?

Yawning, he allowed his eyes to slowly shut as he listened to the next story…maybe a short nap wouldn't be so bad…

And maybe…maybe he could give these people a chance. They hadn't hurt him yet.

Finishing the story of Persephone and Hades, Diana looked up to realize that her audience had fallen asleep. The young hunter was now curled up, head buried just under the bear's head, hands bunching into the fur, knees tucked close to his chest, the tip of his tail twitching from where it curled around the stuffed animal's feet, and the coloring book right beside him.

Silently getting up, she set the book down on the tray picking it up as quietly as she could so she wouldn't wake him. He had to be tired if he fell asleep with her in the room. "Sleep tight," she whispered closing the door behind her.

-.-

**August 6, 00:31EDT**

Onyx buried his head back into the soft warmth bleeding into him from his new furry pillow. A familiar scent tickled his nose and he whined, he didn't want to hunt, he wanted to sleep. He felt like he was sleeping on one of the soft clouds in the sky.

Hearing something rustle, he realized whoever was walking around wasn't leaving. Reluctantly, he forced his eyes open and lifted his head groggily looking over his piece of heaven to where the shadow man sitting close to him, holding some a bottle of disinfectant.

He looked up at him an expression that he couldn't quite decipher settling on his face. "I didn't mean to wake you."

He gave a half-hearted glare—or at least he thought it was, because he softened his expression. "You can go back to sleep," he reassured carefully taking his arm, slowly starting to remove the white material covering his wrist.

The only reason Nightmare didn't lash out was because he was too tired to care. The effort needed to keep his eyes open began growing gradually, eventually becoming a conscious fight to stay awake.

Mewling weakly when his arm started stinging in the last area he removed the IV again, a hand carded through his hair and he purred lightly letting his head drop back down. Realizing his eyes were closing again, he forced them open as they tried to flutter shut. What helped him stay awake was the moment of pain in his arm as the tube was reset again. Shrinking back with a whine, the hand returned to the top of his head as he could make out the man talking softy, "It's ok. You can sleep. You're safe."

With that reassurance, Onyx let himself be dragged back down into the darkness.

-.-

**11:27EDT**

Nightmare yawned as he slowly sat up feeling a little disoriented from his sleep.

"Morning sleeping beauty," the dark-haired woman greeted with a wide smile holding the book—wait…this was a different book, the colors and words were different than what she had last time he woke up. "Did you sleep well?"

He gave a hesitant nod and curled his tail closer. Was she going to read more stories?

"I'm guessing lowering the lights helped. I bet it was hard to sleep with that on," she said with a sympathetic smile as she set the book down and got up. Reaching to the table, she grabbed a tray and it was full of meat. "I noticed you didn't eat much the other night, I thought perhaps this would fill you up more."

Nodding he took the tray and set it next to him. Sniffing it warily before biting down on the crispy meat. He blinked, it was odd, but it tasted good, possessing some extra flavors that regular meat didn't have. It reminded him of some of the strange large mammal carnivores they drove to extinction a while ago.

"Bacon, it comes from a pig," she replied, seeing the question in his piercing gaze. "I too enjoyed it much when I first came to the modern world. Along with ice cream, it is a delicious confection of cream and sugar, I bet you would enjoy it as much as I do. Perhaps I can bring you some? Does mint-chocolate chip sound good? It's one of my favorite flavors."

Nightmare tilted his head, he didn't know exactly what she was talking about, but it sounded like she wasn't too familiar with being around people. Was she from a lab too? That would explain the broken cuffs on her wrists, they were just like his when he broke out the first few times.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" she asked her smile fading to a more concerned expression…at least Onyx thought it was concerned, reading human body language was different than reading raptor. And it had been a while since he had to read humans. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. That's perfectly fine. Do you know how you got on Isla Sorna?"

Nightmare stopped mid-bite…how did he get on the island? It was one of the many questions that the doctor refused to answer. In response he dipped his head, shaking it slightly.

Diana smiled, he was responding, this was a huge step towards earning trust. In all her weeks of going to Isla Sorna, he'd only ever responded with hisses, growls, and in the later times a few curious chirps and chitters. Now, if only she could get him to speak…

If he could.

She hadn't thought about that. There was a chance his vocal chords hadn't developed properly due to his genes. Her young friend, while able to speak whatever velociraptors spoke, could be equivocally mute human-wise.

"Can you tell me your name?"

Nightmare's tail flicked nervously, he didn't want to, but it wasn't like he was going back to the island soon anyways, trust was a two-way street, if he trusted them, if he behaved, then perhaps he could go back. "…n…nn…name?" he rasped quietly, glancing down and kneading his claws in the sheets.

Dread began to course through him. What was he thinking? Why did he just talk?! It was stupid! Now they knew he could understand them and they wouldn't say what they would do to him nearby. He literally just threw himself to the mosasaurs!

Wonder Woman, on the other hand, internally cheered. She got him to talk, so not only was her growing worry proven wrong, but this was a ginormous step in trust. It was likely he was looking for an opportunity to escape, but for now they just needed to build that trust till he could be reassured that he had absolutely no reason to fear them. "Yes honey, your name. Can you tell me?"

The boy licked his lips, his shoulders shrugging up as he curled in on himself more. "hu…hu…hum…hu-man or r-rap…r-rap-tor?"

"Let's start with the one you're more comfortable with," she said gently.

"Night…mare. My n-name is Night-mare," he sounded out, keeping his eyes down. His voice wasn't as raspy as it could've been considering he hadn't spoken English in a few years, but it was still difficult for him to speak the language.

"Nice to meet you Nightmare, I'm Diana," she smiled holding out a hand.

Nightmare's fearful golden eyes looked up at her and she nearly grimaced as he flinched away. Strengthening her resolve she kept her hand out, not moving away or closer. Slowly, the teen unfurled himself and craned his head trying to analyze the situation.

He then spoke quietly, had she not had super-hearing she would've missed it, "…Is s-something sup-posed t-to ha-happen?"

She chuckled lightly trying to be reassuring, he reminded her a lot of herself when she first arrived from Themyscira. "You shake it."

He furrowed his brows before scanning her hand with more scrutiny. "…w-why aren't y-you shaking i-it?"

Wonder Woman gave a short laugh before stifling it, "Give me your hand." Cautiously lifting his hand, Nightmare tried to hold it out only for him to be stopped as the IV got caught. "Your other hand," she corrected switching her hand and turning his focus away from the IV before he could hurt himself again by removing it. Reluctantly, Nightmare switched hands holding it straight out in front of him. Carefully clasping his hand with hers, she shook it, "I'm known as Wonder Woman, but my real name is Diana. It's nice to meet you Nightmare."

"I-is it n-normal to h-have two n-names?"

She smiled. "No."

He tilted his head in confusion. "Th-then why…?"

"Because I'm a superhero," she answered, "I have the hero name—Wonder Woman—that people know me by, but I have my regular name so I can work like a regular person."

The hybrid furrowed his eyebrows, that answer made no sense. The only reason he had two names was because he was named as both a human and as a velociraptor.

"Nightmare, do you know what a superhero does?" Wonder Woman asked and he shook his head. "We help people in danger and save lives. We have two identities: our hero one that everyone knows us by, and our civilian one that's just known only to a few and lets us live like regular people."

"Then…i-if you h-help people…why d-did you t-take me?" Nightmare stuttered, his tail starting to tap the bed. "The i-island was s-safe, the p-pack was g-good."

Diana sighed moving to put a hand on his shoulder when he hissed, his hair bristling and fangs bared; the message was clear: back off.

"I'm so sorry about that, but you don't belong out there—I know you feel otherwise—and while yes you fit in with the raptors, you need human interaction too." She watched as he moved away from her and his tail seemed a little droopy, "I'm guessing you haven't had the best experiences with full-blooded humans?"

Onyx chose not to answer that, he may be starting to try and trust them, but he was not going to say his deepest darkest feelings to mere strangers.

His silence was all she needed to determine an answer and suddenly some of the scars marring his body and his reactions towards Bruce, Red, and Clark made too much sense. And whenever she found who inflicted them, they were going to pay, _dearly_.

"At least allow us to let you see a different perspective if that is the case," she offered. "We want to put you on a team with other young heroes around your age. You'd have a place to stay, food, water, and other necessities. All you'd need to do is participate in training and team building exercises and do recon missions."

Onyx nodded lightly, it seemed reasonable.

Diana smiled. "We'll need to find you a regular name, I can…"

"Onyx."

"Hmm?"

"M-my Master, b-before the p-people left and I e-escaped, he n-named me Onyx," he answered keeping his eyes down, "D-does that work?"

"I'd say that works rather well," Diana nodded, hiding her grimace at the derogatory term of _master_. "Now, how would you feel about having a _mentor_?"

His gold eyes glanced up at her, filled with fear and surprisingly, a hint of curiosity. "…Wh-what's a men-tour?"

**A/N: hey guys! I'm back for another chapter! Now, I hope y'all're enjoying the story so far don't worry things will pick up soon. But just so y'all know my semester is starting up in less than a week, so updates are going to be less frequent (just a warning). I promise, I'll finish this, but it may take a bit since I need to focus on my classes.**


	9. New Arrival

Chapter 8

**A/N: Alright, I know some of y'all were questioning how Onyx was able to break Superman's nose in the last chapter. Now, I will admit it is possible I got carried away in writing parts of the last chapter. ****_However_****, there is a method to my madness that will become clear as the story goes on. So, I hope that clears some things up.**

**Remember, I just own my OC and this story, nothing else is mine.**

**_Telepathy_**

**/comms/**

**Mt. Justice: August 14, 14:02 **

"Wonder why Bats called us here?" Wally groaned as he and Robin Zetaed into the cave.

"Maybe we have a mission," M'gann suggested.

"No, you have a new teammate," Canary said as she and Batman walked in, followed by Onyx and Wonder Woman. He shifted nervously, adjusting the bullet-proof black, red, and gold vest, the fabric was a little uncomfortable, but he'd get used to it, he already liked the black cargo pants with red trim…he doubted he'd get used to the dark grey boots though after running barefoot his entire life. And he still had to figure out the lasso Diana gave him, but at least he didn't have to wear the cuffs.

"I'm sure you all have met Nightmare," Wonder Woman introduced patting her new protégé on the shoulder, not failing to notice that he seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible. Squeezing lightly, his gaze met hers and she gave him a reassuring smile.

He gave her a small nod getting the silent message: she was right there. Nothing bad was going to happen.

"How can we forget?" Wally grumbled. "You tried to kill us."

Onyx crossed his arms and looked away, feeling his hair bristle. "That trespasser stole one of my siblings," he retorted quietly, thankful Diana had taken the time to help improve his English, leaving him with just a slight accented rasp, rather than the stuttering mess he'd been when he arrived.

"He's got a point," Robin commented as Wally looked like he was about to argue.

"Welcome to the team Nightmare," Kaldur greeted holding out a hand, which the hybrid shyly took, glancing up for only a moment to make eye contact. "I am the team leader Aqualad."

A girl with blonde hair long enough to remind the hybrid of his old master took Aqualad's place as he stepped aside, "I'm Artemis, I just joined a few days before you, so I'm new here too. The loudmouth who runs faster than he thinks goes by Kid Mouth or Baywatch."

"Hey! It's Flash! _Kid Flash_!"

"I'm Robin!"

"I'm Miss Martian! And this is Superboy! We're stoked that you'll be living here in the cave with us!" the Martian greeted not noticing the hybrid shift in discomfort.

"Nice to meet y'all," he said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck; he wasn't used to being at the center of attention.

"C'mon we'll give you a tour!" the telepath said grabbing his arm and dragging him off.

-.-

Onyx curled up on the couch, he was certain he was going to get himself lost for the first few weeks. Sniffing the air, he lifted his chin from where it was resting on the armrest and saw Miss Martian pulling out from the area known as the kitchen. Whatever it was, the smell made his mouth water. "Uh…Miss Martian…what are those?"

"Oh! We're off duty, call me Megan!" she said setting the tray on the counter. "And these are double chocolate chip cookies!" Kid Flash ran up. "Careful Wally they're hot."

Nightmare snorted, "Your name's really Wally?"

"Oh yeah Nightmare, do you even have a _human_ name?" the speedster snapped.

Onyx's hair fluffed-up a little at the insult, but he forced it to go back down. They were probably just testing him to make sure he wouldn't lash out when provoked. He wasn't going to give whoever was in charge of punishment the satisfaction of seeing him mess up.

"Yeah, Onyx," he replied and the red-head huffed, probably annoyed that he didn't fail like his guards back on Isla Sorna would be when he behaved. they were always looking for a reason to use the muzzle and prods.

"Well Onyx, when we're off duty you may call me Kaldur," Aqualad said.

"I'm the same either way," Artemis shrugged.

Robin nodded. "Ditto."

"And you?" he asked looking at Superboy who just grunted. "Ok…"

"Want one?" Artemis asked handing him a cookie.

Onyx's eyes went wide at the sight of the treat. He couldn't remember the last time he had one, but they had been one of his favorite things to get when he was on good behavior. "Yes," he said carefully taking the cookie.

"I take it by that look you've never had a cookie before?" Robin chuckled watching the other boy practically inhale the pastry.

Onyx shook his head, licking the crumbs off his lips. "I have, it's just been a while. Cookies weren't exactly on the menu on Isla Sorna," he replied.

"So what was?" Artemis asked.

"Stegosaurus, galamimus, the occasional triceratops or diplodocus, dodo birds, some prey mammals with horns, things like that," he shrugged.

"You ate other dinosaurs?" Wally gaped.

"You act like I've committed a crime."

"You ate Littefoot!"

"…huh?"

"Reference to a kids movie," Robin clarified.

"Ah…" he nodded looking down towards the ground before looking back in confusion, "What's a movie?"

"What?" Megan asked. "I've lived on another planet and I managed to see some!"

Onyx curled his tail closer and looked down at the couch. "I was only allowed to do what the scientists told me to do, which was mostly testing my skills and getting an education."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry man, we'll show you some later."

Gold eyes flicked back up, "…Can I have another cookie?"

M'gann smiled and grabbed the tray, shoving it in the hybrid's arms. "Here! I can make more!" she exclaimed flying over to the kitchen as Wally whined, eager that someone loved her cooking.

Taking a double take, the hybrid looked between the tray and the girl flying around the kitchen. Shrugging he began devouring the sweets. Catching Wally's scent he growled, pulled the tray closer and smacked him with his tail.

Rubbing his nose, Wally grumbled under his breath and sat down next to Robin who was laughing his butt off.

"Mind if I take one?" Artemis asked keeping her distance.

Glancing up at her, Nightmare pouted for a moment. He wanted to keep them all for himself, but if this was a test to see how well he could be a team player then he didn't want to fail, especially after he already swatted at one of them. Reluctantly nodding, he pushed the tray towards her, keeping his head low.

"Thanks," Artemis smiled taking a cookie off the tray, watching as he slowly pulled the rest back to him.

"How come she gets one?!"

"Because I asked nicely Baywatch."

"Oh! Oh! Can I?" Robin asked.

Onyx smiled lightly and grabbed a cookie. "Here."

Robin jumped and caught the cookie that was tossed to him. "Nice toss! We've got to play football some time."

"Sure…as soon as I know what that is," he said rubbing the back of his neck.

"See ya later!" Robin said as he left.

"Yeah, I've gotta go too, nice meeting ya Onyx," Artemis said.

"Nice meeting y'all too," he said.

"I can't say the same," Wally growled storming out.

"I'm sorry about him, normally he's not like this," M'gann apologized.

"It's fine," he replied.

"So you grew up around scientists?" Superboy asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Where did you grow up?"

"I'm Superman's clone, what do you think?"

"Uh…I don't really know who or what that is," he replied.

"He was the one in the blue and red suit," M'gann supplied. "You broke his nose."

"Oh…sorry?"

Superboy gave an approving grunt. "I think you'll fit in," he said before heading off to his room

"Good to know." Onyx got up and looked at M'gann. "Uh…do you know where I'm staying?"

"Oh yeah! Follow me!" she exclaimed flying down a few halls. "I'm just a few doors down, and Superboy is right across from you, so just knock if you need anything."

"Thanks Megan." Closing the door behind him he saw the room was bare, save for a bed, tv, desk, dresser, and nightstand. Rummaging through the dresser he found some pajama pants, and gladly exchanged his current clothes for those.

Looking around he was reminded of the days before the humans left Isla Sorna, back when Dr. Wu kept him locked away in room with a window and bed; nothing else…unless the collar and chains used to keep him contained counted as something else?

"Guess this is my new cage," he whispered, the fact that he really wasn't returning to the island for a long time finally starting to sink in, the fact that he was now separated from his home, his family, everything he knew and loved.

Turning out the lights, he curled up on the bed, hugging his bear tightly and ignoring the tears starting to trickle down his cheeks.

He didn't want to be back in a cage.

**A/N: alright, I know this chapter's shorter than usual, but I wanted to get something out where Onyx at least got to meet the team before going out on missions with them. Make sense, right? Anyways, I'll see y'all in the next chapter!**


	10. Tower of Fate

Chapter 9

**A/N: Onyx/Nightmare is my OC, I own him and this story, nothing else.**

**_Telepathy_**

**"****Raptor"**

**Mt. Justice: August 19, 19:34**

"Initiate combat training in 3…2…1."

Artemis and M'gann stood watching Kaldur and Superboy spar each other, Onyx standing on the sidelines with Wally waiting for next round.

"So uh Kaldur's nice don't ya think? Handsome, commanding; you should totally go out with him," Artemis said.

The Martian girl scoffed. "He's like a big brother to me, but do you know who'd make the cutest couple? You and Wally." They looked at the redhead trying to fit half a burrito in his mouth while the hybrid raised an eyebrow before using his tail to slam him on the back as he started choking.

"You're so full of passion and he's so full of…uh…"

"It?" Artemis suggested and they both laughed.

"Ok, what about Onyx?" M'gann asked.

Artemis glanced at said person, whom was ignoring Wally as he attempted to chew him out for something, she had to admit he was cute, in a younger sibling sort of way. "He doesn't seem to talk much."

"Yeah, he's pretty shy," M'gann confirmed with a pout. "We hardly ever see him around the Cave—Well, I hardly ever see him, Superboy says he's spotted him watching every now and then, but he's skittish and runs off just as soon as we find him. You know…this is actually the longest I've seen him out."

"Fail Aqualad."

"Black Canary taught me that," Superboy said helping him up.

"Our turn," Wally sneered.

"Just don't choke on your own ego," Onyx replied.

"Burn," Artemis grinned.

A hatch at the roof opened and Red Tornado flew down from the ceiling. "Do you have a mission for us?" Wally asked rushing over.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

"Yeah, well the Batman is with the Robin doing the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham. But you're heading somewhere: a hot date, or a mission?" he pressed.

"If we can be of help," Kaldur added.

Tornado turned and began typing, pulling up the image of an old man. "This is Kent Nelson, a friend," Tornado stated. "He is 106 years old…"

"Guy doesn't look a day over 90," Wally snorted.

"…and he has been missing for 23 days. Kent was a member of the Justice Society, the precursor to today's Justice League."

"Of course, Nelson was Earth's sorcerer supreme, he was Dr. Fate," Kaldur said.

"More like Dr. Fake; guy knows a little advanced science and dumbledores it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes," Wally scoffed quietly.

"Kent may simply be on one of his walkabouts, but he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might, and such power should not be left unguarded."

"He is like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses of Mars, I would be honored to help find him," Megan volunteered.

"Me too!" Wally said shooting his hand up instantly. "So honored, I can barely stand it. Magic rocks!"

"Take this, it is the key to the Tower of Fate," Tornado said handing it to Aqualad.

"What are the chances we both so admire the mystic arts?" Wally said trying to impress M'gann.

"Zero to none since you don't believe in them," Artemis muttered and the hybrid nodded.

-.-

**Salem: 20:22EDT**

"So Wallace? When did you first realize your honest affinity for magic?" Artemis asked as they flew towards their destination.

"Well, I—I don't wanna brag, but before I became Kid Flash, I seriously considered becoming a wizard myself," he replied.

Nightmare pressed the back of his hand to his nose trying to block out the suddenly foul scent.

"We've arrived at the coordinates."

"There's nothing there," Superboy stated.

"Take us down," Aqualad ordered.

Stepping out Onyx sniffed the air to clear his nose of Wally's scent change from lying, only to catch another scent, this one worse. Looking over he saw a small red-eyed animal looking at them. It hissed and he growled back before it mewled and scampered off. Going to the field they watched as KF ran around before he skid to a stop in front of them.

"Nothing, this isn't simple camouflage," he stated.

"So what do you think? Adaptive micro-opto-electronics combined with phase shifting?" Artemis asked.

"Absolutely…not! Clearly mystic powers are at work here!" he exclaimed as Megan joined them.

"I'm going to strangle him," Artemis whispered.

"Be my guest, I'll help," Onyx muttered as he sniffed the air again. The other scent was back, but it was stronger than before, looking around he noticed that the furball wasn't back…so what was it?

"You ok?" Artemis asked looking concerned.

"Fine, I just keep catching the same scent, must be some little furry creature I saw earlier, probably still prowling around," he replied.

"What did it look like?"

"Uh…orange, red eyes, four legs, pointy ears, a tail," he stated and saw her frowning, "it kinda hissed at me."

The archer chuckled. "That's a cat, their pretty common."

Nightmare's eyes widened. "I've never seen one that tiny."

"And how big are the ones you've seen?"

Onyx tapped his chin, the long-toothed mammals were pretty rare to see on the island; in fact, last time he saw one was when humans were still on the island. They'd probably all'd been eaten by now, or starved at least. "Well…they stood up to my shoulder and had these two big teeth coming out of their maws. The meat was alright."

"You've eaten a saber-toothed lion?" she gaped and he nodded.

"Once. Are the little ones edible?" Onyx questioned tilting his head as the blonde balked.

"In some places yes, but most are kept as pets."

That caused Nightmare's eyebrows to furrow in confusion, what was a pet? It didn't sound like something in the food chain. "Pet?" he said, slowly saying the strange word to make sure he got it right.

"An animal companion."

"Oh so a pack member," Onyx perked up, "I guess that's good, I don't know what I'd do without my pack…" he trailed off, "so cats aren't recommended for eating?"

"No."

Onyx nodded. "Makes sense. The big ones didn't taste that great."

"Not much of a cat person?" she questioned.

"If they all smell like this, then no," he answered scrunching his nose as she rolled her eyes as they joined the group. "Besides, small animals are almost always stringy and never carry enough meat. Except dodos, dodos always are good."

Artemis raised an eyebrow as he seemed to almost drool at the thought of the strange fat birds from _Ice Age_. "Sorry, we're fresh out of dodos."

Nightmare gave a despondent mewl that Artemis knew that she could never replicate no matter how hard she tried in response to the statement. He honestly looked like someone just told him they killed his puppy. She made a note to go buy him some fried chicken legs to apologize, chickens had to be close enough to dodos, right?

"This is a test of faith," Aqualad said stepping past everyone with the key. "Stand behind me." Walking forwards he stuck the key out into the air, where part of it disappeared, and then a giant tower appeared. Opening the door they walked inside.

"Uh…where'd the door go?" Superboy asked and they turned to see that after it slammed shut behind them, it vanished into thin air.

"Greetings, you have entered with a key, but the tower does not recognize you. State your purpose and intent," a glowing Kent Nelson said appearing in front of them.

Wally stepped forwards, "We are true believers, here to find Dr. Fate!"

Onyx smacked his forehead as the shade gave them a sympathetic look before vanishing. Hearing creaks under them, they looked down as the floor gave way under them, dropping them into a chasm with lava at the bottom below.

Artemis pulled out a crossbow in her jacket, loading an arrow, she fired the cabled arrow and swung over to grab Kaldur and Onyx, landing on the wall. To put less strain on the rope, Onyx crawled off, using his claws to keep a hold in the rock. Miss Martian flew and grabbed Wally, staying in the air, as Superboy grabbed the wall and slid down, burning off his boots in the lava.

"Those were my favorite boots," he grumbled.

"Be glad it was the boots and not the skin," Nightmare reminded looking up he saw M'gann slowly falling down towards the lava.

"Having trouble…maintaining altitude…I'm so hot," the Martian girl huffed.

"You sure are," Wally swooned.

"WALLY!" Artemis and Onyx snapped.

"Hey inches above sizzling death I'm entitled to speak my mind!"

"WELL THEN! IF THAT'S THE CASE! YOU ARE ABSOLUTE IMBICILE!" the hybrid shouted back.

"My physiology and M'gann's are susceptible to extreme heat, we must get out quickly," Kaldur advised.

"Hello Megan, we never really answered the question!" she realized. "RED TORNADO SENT US HERE TO SEE IF MR. NELSON AND THE HELMET WERE SAFE!"

Metal doors closed over the lava, and Superboy hopped down, followed by the thuds of Wally and Megan hitting. Leaping off Onyx landed on his hands and feet like a cat, before standing straight up as Artemis and Kaldur propelled down next to him.

"This platform, it should be red hot, but it is cool to the touch."

"Good for us," Onyx said.

"Don't worry Megalicious, I got ya," Wally said helping her up.

"ENOUGH!" Artemis exclaimed as she shoved him back. "YOU'RE LITTLE IMPRESS MEGAN AT ALL COSTS GAME NEARLY GOT US ALL BARBEQUED!"

"When did this become my fault?!"

"When you lied about believing in magic to…whatever that was!" Onyx growled crossing his arms and baring his fangs.

"Wally, you don't believe?"

The speedster looked at all his teammates who were either staring or glaring at him. "Fine! Fine! I lied about believing in magic! But magic is the real lie!"

"Wally, I studied for years at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis. The mystic arts created the icons on my skin that power my water bearers," Aqualad stated.

"Ever hear of bioelectricity? Hey, in ancient cultures fire was once considered magic. Today it's all just a bunch of tricks."

"You're pretty close-minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers," Artemis growled.

"That's science! I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment and here I am! Everything can be explained by science!"

"How about we test that theory?" Aqualad asked gripped a handle.

"No wait the back-draft from the lava will roast us alive!" Wally warned as he opened the doorway and snow came out.

"It's snow!" M'gann smiled.

"Are you ever tired of being wrong?" Artemis smirked.

With wide eyes Nightmare stood looking at the snowflake falling in front of him. Sticking out his tongue, he caught the flake on it, before shivering. "Geez that's cold."

"C'mon!" Artemis said jumping through.

Onyx gave a low whine, before tossing himself through the doorway. Landing in the snow, he shivered and stood up. "What is this?"

"Snow, haven't you seen snow before?" Artemis asked.

"I grew up in the tropics, so no…is it always this cold?" he shivered.

"Sadly, yes."

"Damnit."

Hearing a grunt they saw Wally dusting some snow off his shirt. "Well?" Artemis asked.

"Ever hear of string theory? We're in a pocket dimension," he replied.

"Can we just find an exit now that the other one's gone?" Nightmare groaned, shivering violently.

"What's that?" Megan asked pointing at a cane floating in the middle of the icy landscape.

"Maybe it's Nelson's magic wand," Wally said rolling his eyes as he and Artemis walked over and grabbed it.

"I got it!" The staff began glowing. "I can't let go!" they exclaimed as they flew up into the air and vanished.

"Why did they get to leave?"

"How do you know they were going somewhere warmer?" Superboy asked.

"And how do you know they were going somewhere colder?" Nightmare replied.

The group continued walking along, trying to find a way out as their hybrid friend was getting colder, and with it, his temper shorter.

"I don't understand Wally; it's almost like he needs to believe the impossible can't happen," Miss Martian sighed.

"People like Wally need to feel control, meaning for him he uses science to control what he can't understand. Admitting magic may be real would relinquish that last bit of control he has," Aqualad replied. A creak sounded and he looked around. "Hear that?"

"Yeah," Superboy replied as they looked up a hill to see that a door with steps had opened on the top.

**"****FINALLY!"** Breaking into a sprint, Nightmare leapt through the doorway, the others soon fallowing his lead. He fell through towards the ground, catching himself in a crouch, he rolled out of the way as the others crashed down where he was a moment ago.

"Friends of yours?"

Looking next to him he saw Nelson, Artemis, and Wally standing next to a giant bell. Hearing what sounded like electricity he looked over and saw some dude with a wand, a kid with hair shaped like horns, and the cat. "Duck!"

"Friends of yours?" Wally asked as they avoided the shot Abracadabra sent at them.

Rolling out of the way of the next shot, he saw Nelson and Wally vanish into the bell, the horned boy and the cat fallowing.

Hearing another shot, he jumped out of the way just as one hit was he was a moment before. Superboy charged the magician when another shot came from the wand, trapping him in an electric net. Kaldur tried running at him from the side, when he too was caught. Racing behind a set of stairs he watched as Abra' seemed to be focused only on those fighting him currently. M'gann was using her telekinesis to deflect the shots as Artemis fired, before he ducked an arrow and sent a bolt at her. Crawling around to the other side, he watched M'gann get hit.

"Now…where did that one go?" he muttered, before the fake magician was slammed down by something latching onto his back. Falling to the ground, he was forced to release his wand as a set of claws dug into his shoulder. Tossing the wand away, Onyx held down the struggling man, baring his fangs threateningly. "How do I stop the electric nets?"

"As if I'd tell you!"

"Worth a shot," he shrugged before he punched his lights out. Hopping up he ran over to where he tossed the wand. "Hope this works." Closing his eyes he snapped the wand, and his friends screams of pain stopped. "Guess it did." Trotting back over to the unconscious man, he hog-tied him with his lasso. "So how y'all doin'?"

"Been better, good job," Kaldur congratulated.

"Thanks," he said, "wonder how Wally and Fate handled cat guy?"

-.-

**Mt. Justice: August 20, 6:45EDT**

"So what's his claim now?" Onyx asked as he raided the pantry looking for M'gann's cookies.

"He's still claiming that he doesn't believe in magic," Artemis growled.

"You're kidding?"

"Nope."

"I swear his head is thicker than a pacy's skull," he muttered.

"So what are you doing?" Artemis asked looking over his shoulder.

"Trying to find the—HA!"

Artemis looked over his shoulder with wide eyes, it was no secret Miss M started hiding her cookies to keep KF from eating them all, the problem was that no one had been able to find them.

No one, except for Nightmare whom was now happily digging in.

"Where on Earth did you find that?"

"I'm sorry to say that a Magician never reveals his secrets."

"Onyx! What in Zeus' name do you think you're doing?!" Wonder Woman called making the hybrid yelp and try to hide the evidence quickly as Artemis walked away briskly as the heroine began scolding her protégé.

-.-

**Isla Nublar: 21:43**

/Relax/ a sub pilot said to his partner as they drove into the Jurassic World aquatic enclosure, /anything trapped in here would be dead by now/

"Don't jinx yourselves boys," a feminine voice snarled as a hand slammed on the glass from outside, causing both to jump as a dark-skinned girl with blue scales covering most her body that was visible from the dark armor she wore appeared. A powerful tail that reminded much like that of a crocodile's moved back and forth behind her. Some webbing between her fingers and some fins on her legs could be seen. Her long waist-length dark hair that faded to blonde at the tips with blue highlights billowed about her finned ears, and gills on her neck.

/Y-Yes ma'am/ they nodded moving forwards. Their lights travelled across the ocean floor until it settled on something, a skeleton, a dinosaur skeleton covered in sea life that was slowly decomposing the remains.

"So this is the once great beast?" the girl scoffed swimming around it with powerful swings of her tail, "Get a sample."

She moved back as the arms of the submarine reached forwards, the clamp grasping down on one of the ribs, holding it steady as the saw came up, cutting through the bone. As soon as they finished, she grabbed it, shoving the piece into a tube on her back, sealing it tight.

Looking up, she narrowed her eyes, seems like her nose wasn't lying after all. "Time to make my leave," she whispered turning away from the sub and trusting herself forwards into the darkness towards the door. It would be more preoccupied with the mincemeat she left behind anyways.

Swimming out of the gate, she went into the Manta Sub waiting for her. "Call the ground team," she said wringing out her dripping hair. "We've got it."

-.-

/Specimen collected, B5 has returned/

"Understood," a slightly tanned girl with white-blonde hair, white scales, and a long tail replied tapping her comm. She turned to a tall man with a long white ponytail, and a bronze and black mask. "Master, the sample is secure on Manta's ship."

"B3, get your idiots to close the gate."

Another with a clubbed tail and thick armor-like plates nodded and the man kneeling beside him at the controls began talking, "Marine 1 exit immediately…Marine 1?"

/…/

"We've lost contact."

"Close the gates anyways," the man replied.

"B5's back," the girl said as her amber eyes turned up as a teal-winged girl flew down, her scales contrasting her wet auburn hair.

"We have company."

"I thought I smelled a Rex," the other female hissed, "Pity B1 was unable to join us for this mission, he certainly would've been helpful."

The visible eye in the man's mask narrowed, "He has another assignment. B4, tell Sportsmaster to start the helicopter."

The auburn-haired girl nodded, flying over and tapping the window, making a swirl motion with her hand before flying off into the stormy skies. Meanwhile, the leader gave a sharp roar getting the attention of the other two and she motioned to the helicopter.

"We're leaving."

"But the doors aren't completely closed yet!" the man protested.

"Then hurry it up," the club-tailed hybrid replied joining his teammate as they walked to the helicopter. As they got inside, they both snorted as the tech screamed as he saw the T-Rex standing behind him. the helicopter began to lift off as he sprinted towards them, desperately reaching for the ladder dangling off the side as he dropped his tablet.

"Is he gonna make it?" the pale one sneered as they started to fly over the mosasaur enclosure.

In an act of sheer desperation, the man leapt, and somehow managed to grab onto the ladder. Unfortunately, so did the T-Rex, her massive jaws clamping down on the final ends of the ladder.

"We're gonna stall!" Sportsmaster called from the front.

"Cut the line!"

"Yes Master," the female grinned, brandishing her claws, "this'll be fun."

Almost as if to prove her wrong, the T-Rex yanked on the ladder too hard, breaking it off and thus making it unable to eat them. The man on the ladder laughed and cheered, and then it was suddenly ended as the Mosasaurus blasted out of the water, its massive jaws effortlessly tearing through the ladder and the man on it before it fell back into the deep.

"…She didn't mention it was still alive, did she?" B3 questioned.

"No," their master replied curtly, "tell Manta to depart the area immediately, we'll meet him at Site B. The Mosasaurus cage is compromised."


	11. Training

Chapter 10

**A/N: I just own my OC and changes to the main plot, nothing else.**

**/comm/**

**_Telepathy_**

**Gotham City: August 27, 6:10EDT**

Nightmare grunted as he was slammed into the wall, by Clayface. Getting to his feet, he looked to see that M'gann was already down.

Kid Flash ran forwards, and attempted to punch the mud pile, when the clay wrapped around his leg, slamming face-first into the ground before tossing him into one of the many crates in the storehouse.

Superboy charged and leapt onto their opponent, but instead of falling to the ground as expected, the clay slowly surrounded him and dragged him inside. Looking at each other, Robin and Nightmare charged, pulling out his lasso he tossed it and prayed that for once that his training with Wonder Woman was paying off. Seemed God was listening because his lasso wrapped around the bottom of Suberboy's boot. He came to a stop before yanking with all the strength on the rope, pulling his teammate out of the mud.

"How is he?" Robin asked running over.

"I'm—" the clone began.

"Watch out!" Nightmare warned jumping over the clay wall as it swung by, slamming Robin and Superboy into the crates, knocking both out cold.

Clayface turned and looked at both him and Aqualad, before splitting into two. "Great," Nightmare muttered as one charged him. Rolling under a swing, he used his claws, to slice through his hand, knocking it off, only for Clayface to laugh as it regrew. Swinging both his arms, Clayface knocked Nightmare out of the air as he attempted to jump between the incoming clay whips, sending him flying through a post, where he fell unconscious.

Aqualad grunted as he slammed into the wall, looking up he saw the two halves merging back together. The hand morphed into a mallet as the mud minster raised it above his head to crush the team leader with a roar.

The glass ceiling caved in as Batman came through, tossing two Bat-a-rangs, they exploded in his arm. Punching the ground where the Batman landed, Clayface growled as he backflipped out of the way, pulling out his taser, and shocking him. The electricity forcing him to destabilize into a puddle.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: 7:45EDT**

"I need to talk to Aqualad," Batman stated as the team bridged in. "The rest of you, hit the showers, get your injuries treated, and head home."

"Home? I am home," Superboy muttered walking past.

Going to the showers, Onyx hissed as the steaming water ran over his cuts and bruises. "That'll take a few days to heal," he muttered, feeling his side, definitely broke a rib or two. Finally rinsing the last of the dirt off, he tossed on a pair of pajama pants and went down to the kitchen for food.

"What did you do? Get in a fight with a truck?" Canary asked looking at the bruised and bleeding teenager.

"No, but he hit like ankylosaur," he replied.

"You need to go to the med bay."

"I have advanced healing, it'll take a day or two to heal this. Besides, I've taken worse, trust me," he replied wincing as the cuts started stinging.

"Alright, come back down if it takes longer than two days ok?" she said. "If you don't I'll get Wonder Woman to drag you here."

Onyx gave a light smile. "Fine," he sighed, no point in arguing with Black Canary.

"Oh yes, make sure to come down to the training room this afternoon, there's some new things Diana wants to work with you on."

"Thanks," he called continuing his path to the kitchen. Going in he immediately made his way to the fridge, pulling out an uncooked steak, he closed the fridge and shoved it the microwave, setting it for a random time till it seemed to be warm enough. Once it reached his satisfaction, Nightmare grabbed it and started eating.

Wally ran in and froze, seeing his teammate tearing at the raw meat. "Dude that can't be healthy."

"For you maybe," he replied walking back to his room as he licked the blood off his claws, as Wally suddenly lost his appetite. "Later."

Going to his room he locked the door, turned off the lights, but turned on the heating lamp and curled up on the bed with his bear. Turning on his speakers, he went to one of his playlists and tossed on the music, slowing dozing off.

-.-

**August 27, 15:37EDT**

Onyx yawned, stretching out before looking at the clock. He slept for several hours longer than what he would've during any naps back home. Guess there was one perk of staying in his new prison.

Getting up he tossed on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for training with his mentor, almost falling as he attempted to get his tail through the extra leg made for him.

"Morning Onyx," M'gann greeted as he walked in. "I just finished making eggs and bacon, want some?"

"Sure," he smiled grabbing a plate and sniffing the food, at least she didn't burn it or put plants in it like she usually did with breakfast.

"Why is it you only eat meat?" Superboy asked as he sat next to him.

"Just used to it, I've never really ate vegetables or fruits back on the island, even when the scientists were there. It probably has to do with my biology too, being half velociraptor and all," he answered with a shrug.

Superboy nodded looking uncomfortable. "So…uh…what happened to your family—well human family? Did you ever know them?"

Onyx stopped and put his fork down. What did happen to his human relatives? Did he even have any?

"You don't have to answer, we were just curious," M'gann stated sensing his unease.

"It…It's ok," he reassured. "To be honest, it's something I've never really thought about…I asked a few times when I was younger—I think—and I never got an answer," he shrugged eating his food. "So I just gave up asking; my best guess is they died is some plane crash or shipwreck on the island, somehow I survived and I ended up in Wu's custody"

"So you don't know anything?" M'gann asked.

"That's what I just said, for all I know I was grown in an egg or pod like the rest of the dinosaurs," he chuckled bitterly, getting up and putting his plate away. "Thanks for the breakfast, M'gann. You're getting better at cooking."

"Says the guy who can't cook," Superboy smirked.

"Like you can do any better, at least I can survive in the wild," he replied heading down to the training room.

"Took you long enough," Wonder Woman smiled, "I thought I was going to have to send a search party."

"Sorry, I slept late, then I had to get breakfast, and I got caught up talking with the guys and…"

Diana laughed. "It's alright, it's good to see you acting like a normal teenager. So, how've you been adapting to the team?"

Onyx shrugged. "Ok, I guess. I seem to get along with most of them pretty well, but Wally and I don't seem to get along much, and I'm still uncomfortable around Megan. It's still taking some getting used to though, I'm still half expecting to wake up surrounded by jungle and hatchlings either cuddling against me or playing with my hair, tail, or ears."

"Why don't you feel comfortable around M'gann?" Diana interjected, interrupting his rambling.

"I don't like that she can get into my head, it doesn't seem natural."

"And Wally?"

"I think our personalities clash," he shrugged. How was he supposed to know? Wally had been hostile to him since day one.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you're adjusting well. And I know that getting used to this is hard, trust me, moving to a new home always is, but I know it'll get better," she reassured. "Now, let's practice with your new gear, you're excellent at close-range and hand-to-hand combat, but your distance stuff needs work." She typed on the monitor and several holo-targets came up. "We'll start with the whip. Your goal is to hit the center of the target as fast as you can as many times as you can."

Onyx nodded pulling out the long gold and red braided weapon. Taking aim, he went one swing at a time, hitting the edge of some, missing others, and getting close on the rest. Looking up at his score and time he winced, he had a lot of work to do.

"Alright, that's not bad," Diana said, "but it needs work, but let's see how your progress with your lasso is first. Then I want to see if you'd be willing to add a new piece, one I think you might work better with."

Nightmare nodded wrapping up the whip, before he uncoiled the lasso and looked at the targets before turning to Wonder Woman. "So…do I use these targets, or…?"

"Let's try against me," she said and he let his tail drop, God, he was in trouble. "And you have to try and catch me in it, you can't always run up to an enemy."

Gulping, Nightmare made the loop as big as he could before they began circling each other.

Diana watched as he eyed her, he was doing well on refraining on his initial instincts to attack first, during their first days he would always attack as soon as he saw an opening. It was good, but at least now he was more willing to lead his opponent into striking first. Her eyes flicked over to his back watching the muscles tense, she almost missed it due to the fact he didn't crouch like he usually did before he attacked.

She rolled out of the way as the lasso flew her way, grabbing the rope, Wonder Woman yanked him towards her, before using the large loop to trap him.

Onyx glared up at her from where'd he'd fallen on the ground, his tail thumping against the training deck floor. "Good for a first try," Diana smiled loosening the rope and helping her protégé to his feet, "can you tell me where you went wrong?"

"Um…made the loop too big?"

"That's one of the things you messed up," she nodded. "Too big of a loop gives you less rope to throw." Pulling out her own lasso, she made a loop. "You want one about this size: large enough to catch something big, but small enough so you don't use all that rope for no reason. What other mistakes were made?"

"I, uh, didn't let go of the rope when you yanked?" he winced.

She shook her head. "Don't let the enemy take your weapon away," she said, "you shouldn't have let me tie you up. But can you tell me what your biggest error was?"

He shook his head, seemingly lost.

"Your tell gave you away again," she stated and he groaned. "Now, good news I almost missed it this time, you didn't crouch, but I saw the way you tensed like you wanted to."

"I'm working on it," he murmured blushing around his scales.

"At least you managed to throw the lasso in the right direction this time. Let's try again."

He nodded, pulling the rope back and creating a new loop before their training began again.

This time, Diana didn't even take two steps before he threw the lasso and managed to pin her arms to her side. She lifted her leg and stepped on the rope, attempting to yank him off his feet, only for him to wrap the rope around his arm and pull back. The rope slid from under Wonder Woman's foot to her knee and Nightmare used his tail to pull the rope, hard.

Falling to her back she gazed up as he appeared over her. "Was that good?"

"Beginner's luck," she smiled untying herself. "But if you keep working like that you'll be just fine." She got up brushing her hair out of her face. "Now, let's go back to working on your whip."

"Aw. What about the new thing?"

"Let's get you proficient in these two things first."

-.-

**Batcave**

Bruce typed on the Batcompter, finally able to submit Onyx's DNA into the missing person's database. It had taken forever for the computer to separate the human DNA from the velociraptor. Far longer than had been anticipated; it was like he heard: Dr. Wu liked to go all out when splicing each individual genome for his assets. Now it would hopefully be only a day or two before they got a result and he could finally go after Dr. Wu for doing illegal genetic experimentation on a child.

"Black Canary—13"

"So how was the equipment?" he asked as she walked up.

"A few bumps at the beginning, but he's a fast learner and Diana's an eager teacher, he'll have it down in no time," she answered. "Any luck yet?"

"Unfortunately it took longer than anticipated for the computer to separate the human and raptor DNA, I just submitted it into the international missing person's database, if he or someone he's related to is missing we'll know," Batman answered.

"And if we don't get any results?" she asked.

"Then I'll have to test a few other theories I have in mind, all of which will be much more difficult to prove."

"Which are?"

"He was never reported missing, he was adopted by Dr. Wu or one of the other scientists, or he's a clone," he stated, "But all of those will take time to get results from; I'll have to go through numerous birth and adoption records from multiple countries, as well as DNA matches for potential donors—willing or unwilling—for the cloning process."

Canary pressed her lips together, looking at the data and the picture of the teen. "Well…can we narrow down the countries?"

"He's likely European or American," Batman replied. "He bears no similarities or genetic flags for Asian, Hispanic, Arabic, or African descent."

Dinah frowned, "Any guesses at least?" Batman didn't respond and she sighed, "So basically we're no closer than before?"

"Exactly," he sighed.

"Let me know if anything comes up," she said turning to leave.

"Any luck on triggering his memory?"

"M'gann informed me that when she and Conner asked about his family he was very confused, said he didn't know and gave up asking when he never got any answers."

He nodded, even if the boy hadn't remembered a detail like that told him something: he was with Wu long enough to learn to not question certain things after a period of time, and long enough to notice when he felt like he had to behave after possibly pushing on an issue too much. This was probably why Nightmare seemed acutely aware of when people were frustrated or angry around him, and while the boy certainly didn't try to please people like Miss Martian, he could tell who he felt was safe to question and who he had to keep his head down around. He did it with Wally on the first day he was introduced to the team, whatever Kid Flash said obviously offended him, but Onyx kept his head down and simply answered the question.

The reasoning behind this kind of behavior was something Bruce had always hated to see in children. Thankfully, the boy was improving greatly, and now only showed such behavior around him and Leaguers he didn't know, and even the latter was becoming less common.

As Canary left, sighing, he turned on the surveillance cameras to check on his ward. Watching he frowned and shook his head as he saw him mess up from frustration. "Alfred, have Dick meet me on the basketball court."


	12. Of the Depths

Chapter 11

**A/N: do not own YJ or JP series.**

**/comm/**

**"****Raptor"**

**_Telepathy_**

**Alright, this may look like a repost, but I guarantee it's not, and I would not skip this chapter. Not if you don't want to miss some ****_interesting_**** developments ;)**

**Gotham City: August 27, 6:10**

Onyx grunted as he was slammed into the wall, by Clayface. Getting to his feet, he looked to see that M'gann was already down.

Kid Flash ran forwards, and attempted to punch the mud pile, when the clay wrapped around his leg, slamming face-first into the ground before tossing him into one of the many crates in the storehouse.

Superboy charged and leapt onto their opponent, but instead of falling to the ground as expected, the clay slowly surrounded him and dragged him inside. looking at each other, Robin and Nightmare charged, tossing a few explosives into the clay, they exploded, tossing the clay away and exposing Superboy. Racing over, the hybrid jumped and yanked their teammate out.

"How is he?" Robin asked running over.

"I'm—" the clone began.

"Watch out!" Nightmare warned jumping over the clay wall as it swung by, slamming Robin and Superboy into the crates, knocking both out cold.

Clayface turned and looked at both him and Aqualad, before splitting into two. "Great," Nightmare muttered as one charged him. Rolling under a swing, he used his claws, to slice through his hand, knocking it off, only for Clayface to laugh as it regrew. Swinging both his arms, Clayface knocked Nightmare out of the air as he attempted to jump between the incoming clay whips, sending him flying though a post, where he fell unconscious.

Aqualad grunted as he slammed into the wall, looking up he saw the two halves merging back together. The hand morphed into a mallet as the mud minster raised it above his head to crush the team leader with a roar.

The ceiling caved in as Batman came through, tossing two Bat-a-rangs, they exploded in his arm. Punching the ground where the Batman landed, Clayface growled as he backflipped out of the way, pulling out his taser, and shocking him. The electricity forcing him to destabilize into a puddle.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: 7:45**

"I need to talk to Aqualad," Batman stated as the team bridged in. "The rest of you, hit the showers, get your injuries treated, and head home."

"Home? I am home," Superboy muttered walking past.

Robin and Aqualad walked up to Batman, who looked at his protégé. "Just Aqualad."

Robin nodded and walked towards the showers, glancing back at his mentor.

"I am sorry the team performed poorly—" Kaldur began.

"The team performed adequately, the problem was you. You're their leader and your head wasn't in the game."

"No you are…correct," he sighed in defeat. "As of late I am not convinced I even belong on the surface world. For so many years it filled my every thought, but now that I'm here, my dreams are all Atlantis."

"Atlantis, or someone you left behind?" Batman questioned. "You can split your time between the surface and the sea, but not your mind. You are either here one-hundred percent, or you need to walk away. Make a decision Kaldur and make it soon."

-.-

**Poseidonis: August 28, 13:00**

"Recognized: Aqualad—B02."

Swimming out of the Zeta Tube, Kaldur swam towards Aquaman. "Greetings Kaldur'ahm," he said.

"King Orin," he said making a salute.

The two turned and began swimming away from the tubes towards the underwater city. "The Queen and I are hosting an intimate dinner tonight. Will you attend?"

"Your Majesty, there is someone special I was hoping to see today," he began.

Aquaman chuckled. "You may bring a friend."

"Thank you, My King."

"Until tonight."

Going their separate ways, Kaldur swam towards the Conservatory. Swimming past numerous students practicing magic, he stopped by one of his old friends, who was working on one of his projects.

"I'll never finish in time," he whined as he summoned more pieces to fill the piece.

"Topo, the workmanship is magnificent," he praised.

Topo jumped. "Kaldur! Don't do that! Wait! Here! Watch, listen," holding out his hand the pieces on the wall began to move. "Our beloved King was at the mercy of the vile Ocean Master. But two young students, Kaldur'ahm and Garth, intervened; allowing the Aquaman to triumph. Impressed with their valor, Aquaman offered both young heroes the chance to be his protégé. Garth chose to continue his studies at the Conservatory of Sorcery, but the brave Kaldur, accepted his King's offer and became Aqualad!" Finishing he turned back to the older student. "Kaldur? I mean, Aqualad?"

"Oh, it's very good."

"Thanks, I hope you don't mind that I inserted myself in the background, even though I wasn't actually there…"

"It's fine," he smiled. "Do you know where I may find Tula now? And Garth?"

"On the roof at their studies."

"Thank you." Swimming up he saw that both his friends were locked in an intense duel. Garth fired at Tula, but she dodged, sending two magic disks at him. planning himself on the ground, Garth made a shield, blocking her attack.

"Your technique is excellent, but your skills remain predictable. Combat sorcery requires improvisation," a woman said before looking to see their guest. "Kaldur'ahm! It's so good to see you."

"Kaldur!" Tula greeted.

"Apologies My Queen, I did not mean to interrupt," he said.

"It's fine, I have another class, will I see you at dinner?" she asked.

"Yes Your Majesty."

"We shall talk then," she said leaving.

"You look well Kaldur," Tula said hugging him.

"Yes, surface life agrees with you," Garth agreed.

"You speak as if I've been gone for years, but it's only been—"

"Two months."

"Oh…that long. Then I shall make up for lost time. Tula, would you accompany me to dinner tonight at the palace?" Kaldur asked before looking to Garth. "I wish I could invite you as well my friend."

"I made that choice long ago," he replied.

"We have another class, but I'll see you tonight," she said taking Garth's arm and they swam away.

Smiling, Aqualad began to swim around the city, looking to see what had changed in his absence. Turning a corner, he was caught off guard when something slammed into him.

"Ow."

Rubbing his forehead, he looked down to see a dark-skinned girl sitting on the ocean floor rubbing her own head. She had blue scales covering most her body with striping of lighter and darker blues, condensed on her back and upper arms while appearing sparsely on her lower arms and legs; she had teal eyes, a powerful tail that reminded him much of a crocodile's, some webbing between her fingers, some fins on her legs, long waist-length dark hair that faded to blonde at the tips with blue highlights, finned ears, gills on her neck like his own, and she wore a pair of black leggings and a grey top that reminded him of Tula's.

"I'm sorry, I did not see you there," he said helping her up, his own blue eyes meeting her green ones.

"It's fine, I was going too fast anyways," she smiled showing a set of sharp teeth. "By the way, do you know the fastest way to the east reef? I was meeting some friends there, but like the genius I am I got myself lost."

Kaldur nodded, she must've been new to Poseidonis. "Of course, just fallow this path to the Conservatory of Sorcery, then take a right, about two pathways down take a left and you'll be there."

"Thank you," she said with a dip of her head.

"I'm Kaldur'ahm."

"Kuleana," she replied. "Hope to see you around sometime, thanks again." With a smile and a wave, the girl swam off, fallowing his directions. She swam to the reef and ducked behind a rock just as drill dug up from below the surface.

"Ma'am get behind us!" a guard ordered as he and his partner swam over.

"Halt intruders!"

Men in dark uniforms began emerging, they shot at the two guards, knocking one out. The other was just stunned, floating down he grabbed his staff, when a force landed on his back and he was knocked out.

"Be more careful," the girl growled as she stood on the unconscious Atlantean. She glared at Black Manta, her finned ears flattening as she bared her fangs. "You're late. I spent an hour scoping out the city, had to fake my way as one of them a few times. You were supposed to be here forty-five minutes ago!"

"We had complications," Manta replied. "All squads report!"

/Beta Squad ready/

/Gamma Squad ready/

/Delta Squad ready/

/Epsilon Squad ready/

"Phase one complete, initiate phase two."

/All squads report manta stings in place and ready, phase two complete/

"Good, prepare phase three," she said examining her claws with a smirk.

-.-

"A gigantic echinoderm, frozen, yet still alive. Of course, at this point our data is quite limited, but Dr. Vulko thinks the creature could be very promising…" Prince Orm rambled on about the latest discovery at the science center.

"I am considering rejoining you at the conservatory," Kaldur whispered to Tula.

"You realize that you left your studies some time ago, you would no longer be in Tula's class, or Garth's, not until you were up to pace," the Queen said.

"Then perhaps I require a tutor."

"We have an announcement," Orin said as he and his wife stood up.

"I am with child," she smiled.

"Oh that's wonderful!" Tula exclaimed hugging her.

"Congratulations, and heir to the throne at last!" Kaldur said. "My apologies Prince Orm."

"Please, no one could be more thrilled about this news than I!" Aquaman's younger brother said hugging him.

"Thank you brother, thanks to you all," Aquaman said.

/Superman to Aquaman, emergency in Tokyo bay, rendezvous at Watchtower/

"Acknowledged," he replied. "I must take my leave." Kissing his wife quickly he turned to his apprentice. "Swim with me." Nodding, Aqualad fallowed his king towards the Zeta tubes. "Batman has made me aware of your…dilemma. I know from personal experience that it is hard to live there and love here."

"Recognized: Aquaman—06."

"I am confident you will make the right choice."

-.-

Aqualad and Tula swam through one of the reefs within the city. "There is something I must…" they said at the same time.

"I…"

"Please, Tula," Kaldur said holding his hand up. "I have made a decision. To stay in Atlantis with you, because of you."

She turned and looked away. "Kaldur, I'm sorry. We wanted to tell you sooner, but Garth and I we are together."

Kaldur looked down in disappointment when all off a sudden, the buildings behind them exploded.

Hearing more, the two turned to see explosions racking across the city. Swimming off they saw the Manta soldiers firing at the guards, knocking them out.

"Alpha Squad requesting reinforce—ah!"

Swimming towards the palace, they took out a group attacking the Queen and her brother-in-law. "This attack was precision planned. The initial explosions lured our patrols into ambush," Kaldur informed.

Tula swam past with several men fallowing going under one of the column structures, she turned and fired, making the rock collapse on top of the men.

Making sure the teens were out of the way, the Queen made her manta-ray construct turn, where it swam and rammed through another column structure, taking out another group of the armed men.

Kaldur swung his water whips, grabbing an outcrop of rock, he pulled in down, causing it to crash next to the men, the force sending a ripple that sent them drifting out of position where Tula made a swirling tube that sucked them through and sent them slamming into their partners.

"Tula!" Garth called swimming towards them.

"Garth lookout!" she called, racing over and pushing him out of the way just as one fired, the blast hitting her instead.

"No!"

"Tula!" Swimming over, Kaldur and Garth knelt next to the unconscious girl.

Grouping up, the soldiers fired again when multiple tentacles of magic blocked the attacks, the markings on the Queen spread as she used more power, creating a giant octopus that made a shield with two tentacles, and sent the rest out at the attackers.

"Surface communications are down, we cannot reach King Orin," Orm informed. "Summon more troops to the palace."

"The palace was not the only place attacked," Garth stated. "I witnessed explosions in sectors one, two, three, and five."

"Nothing in sector four?" Aqualad asked. "Explosions all over the city, except where the science center is located, where your giant sea star is secure."

"Then it is all a diversion," Orm agreed. "But with the King away I must protect the Queen, and the heir."

"I don't need protection!" she snapped.

"No Mera, if you were injured my brother would never forgive me."

"The prince is right My Queen, this battle is mine."

"And mine," Garth said only to get a glare from his friend.

"Your place is with Tula," he growled swimming off.

-.-

Black Manta burst from under the floor, where the last guards and scientists stood ready to defend the sea star. The men fired when another explosion went off behind them, and the girl swam out punching them in the face using her super-strength, knocking them out cold.

"Objective secure," Manta said.

"Don't jinx it," the girl said looking over the thing they were sent to get. "You know, I was expecting something more…exciting."

"Manta sub! Initiate phase four!"

A large sub drove over the complex, and a beam came out of the bottom, starting to melt through the roof.

-.-

Outside, Aqualad typed the entrance code, sensing something behind him he grabbed his weapon only to find it was Garth. "You should be with Tula."

"The Queen watches over Tula, and sent me after you," he replied as they swam in.

-.-

Sniffing the water, the girl growled as she caught an unwelcome scent. "You two! Handle the intruders!" she snapped pointing at two men.

"How do you know there are intruders?" Manta asked and she scoffed as she swam towards the shadows.

"My sense of smell is ten times as powerful as a shark, they're here."

-.-

"You have a plan?" Garth asked, only to turn and find that his partner wasn't there. "Kaldur?"

Two men swam around the corner and prepared to fire when Aqualad swam down and used his maces to knock them out. Looking at Garth, he rolled his eyes as he saw his friend looking at him in shock. "I too have my studies."

-.-

Manta glanced at the girl and she grinned wickedly before swimming back to another spot as the two soldiers returned. Getting the memo from the Mosasaurus-Atlantean hybrid, he swam up to them. "Impressive isn't it? Aqualad?"

They whipped around and began firing at him, swimming back, he shot beams out of his eyes, which hit them and knocked the back. Removing his helmet, Aqualad used his water bearers to make swords, and block the incoming shots. Ducking another shot, he made a whip and wrapped it around one man's leg, dragging him over and using him as a shield as another shot came. Hitting the man instead of him.

"Such a waste! You really have no ambition beyond serving Aquaman? Aren't schools of others willing to die for their king?!" Manta snarled. "This fool for example!"

Finally removing his helmet, Garth cried out as his friend's whip wrapped around him, and dragged him out of the way of the incoming shots. "Get your head in the game," Kaldur scolded, releasing his friend.

"I summon the power of the tempest!" Casting the spell, Garth swam out and made a vortex, trapping several men.

Narrowing her eyes, Kuleana swam down and slammed him into a wall. Grabbing his arm, she hurled him into Aqualad and he was blocking attacked from Manta and a few of his men.

"You sure took your sweet time!" Manta snapped and Kaldur stared in shock, it was the girl he helped earlier!

"Call it payback for earlier!" she snarled looking up as the roof was finally melted and a hook began lowering. "Keep them occupied!" Swimming up she attached the sea star to the cable and gave a thumbs up.

"Garth! The cable!" Kaldur called.

Coming out from behind the beam, he shot a blast, effectively severing the cable, dropping the sea star down. However, before it hit the bottom the girl caught it. "If you want the job done right, you have to do it yourself," she grumbled as she began dragging the massive block of ice up towards the sub.

Manta, turned his back on Aqualad to help her, when the protégé's whips wrapped around him. "Garth!"

Ducking a few more shots, Garth aimed a magic disk, and sent if flying straight into the girl, sending her into the wall, causing the ice to fall and break.

Roaring in anger, Manta broke out of Kaldur's grip. "IF I CAN'T HAVE IT NO ONE CAN!" he shouted firing a missile at the icy creature, making it explode. Swimming in front of Kaldur, Garth made a shield blocking them from the explosion.

Manta raced over and grabbed the girl. Yanking her arm out of his grip, they swam up towards the sub. Climbing in she hissed angrily as she wrung out her hair. "That went well."

"Shut up Seaspray."

"Make me Manta," she snarled grabbing him and pinning him up on the wall with one hand, "remember, I don't report to you. So, regardless of our family relations, _Father_, I am not inclined to obey you." Dropping him, she turned and walked away, tapping her comm. "B5 reporting in: we failed to achieve the objective, we'll have to use Plan B."

/Understood B5, your orders are to return to base. A2 out/

-.-

**September 3: 21:08**

"Our city was heavily damaged, and many Atlanteans were injured, but it could have been far worse," Aquaman said.

"This contains all the survived," Prince Orm said holding a container with a small piece of flesh inside. "The sea star is already starting to regenerate, it requires further research, but with the dome compromised and the science center in ruins, we are not equipped to do such…perhaps the surface world can do better."

"I'm sure they'll be eager to try," Orin replied. "Kaldur?"

"Call me Aqualad, My King," he said with a salute.

-.-

"Kaldur…I...we…that is…" Tula stuttered.

"I wish you both the best," he said hugging them.

"Recongnized: Aqualad—B02"

"Have you ever wondered what would've happened if I stayed behind, and you became Aqualad?"

"No," Garth said.

"No, neither have I," he smiled.

-.-

**Mt. Justice**

"Made your decision?" Batman asked.

"I am here, one-hundred percent."

"Good, because you have a mission."

**A/N: what's this? Two chapters in one weekend? Well, it's Labor Day weekend so I have a little time on my hands so I figured I'd at least get another chapter out.**


	13. Memory Blank

Chapter 12

**A/N: I just own this story and my OCs.**

**/comm/**

**"****Raptor"**

**_Telepathy_**

**"****Other languages"**

**Bialya: September 4, 12:16**

Nightmare groaned as he sat up, shielding his eyes from the blinding sun, he looked around to see miles and miles of sand stretching out before him. **"Where am I?"** Getting to his feet, he felt cloth rubbing against his torso and lower legs, looking down, he froze in shock; he had boots covering his feet, black pants, a red belt with two ropes hanging from his sides, and a black and red vest with a golden W on the front; not his normal, old, torn, and very dirty pants. **"What am I wearing?!"**

Spotting some cliffs in the distance he ran for them, getting close he skid to a stop, tripping over himself and rolling through the sand. On the island he'd never gone that fast, mainly because he was always having to watch for trees, rocks, and other animals. Scrambling back to his feet, he ran over and dug his claws into the rock as he started climbing, sliding down as his boots didn't grip as well as his claws.

Getting to the top he could see smoke in the distance, and where there was smoke, there was people. **"Great,"** he muttered. Jumping down, he rolled to his feet, looking back at the smoky pillar, he sniffed the air, some of the scents coming from the direction seemed familiar…but from where?

Sighing he turned in another direction where the same scents were coming from, but it was faint, like they hadn't been there in a while. Perhaps, wherever that scent was coming from could give him some answers on what the heck was going on.

-.-

Artemis stared at the feral boy leapt at a tank, ripping off the barrel. One guy began shooting him, when he was hurled off by the clone.

Superboy was about to rip off the top of the tank, when a brute force slammed into him. Getting out of the crater with a growl, he glared at the tall, dark skinned boy with large rippling muscles, brown scales, claws, orange eyes, and dressed only in a pair of light green combat boots, and green military pants.

"Who's that guy?" Artemis asked as the clone lunged at the other guy, who released a roar that sounded very similar to a t-rex.

"Wanna stay and find out?" Kid Flash asked as another with tan skin, grey eyes, green armor plating, and a clubbed tail, dressed in boots, pants, and a vest jumped in the air, slamming Superboy aside with the brunt club. The superclone slammed to the ground, and got up, when another boy with a long green tail covered in four sharp spikes, hit him from behind sending him rolling along the ground, creating a trench.

"No," Artemis said. Picking her up, the speedster ran off.

Superboy growled and lunged at the large boy again, catching his fist on one hand he tossed him into the air, where a girl with pale skin, auburn hair, green eyes, teal scales, and a pair of teal wings emerging from her back, swooped down, tossing several bolas at him, wrapping him up in the lead-titanium cables. Landing on the ground some of the soldiers blinked, noticing she wore a set of green boots, black leggings, and a white tank-top. "Get your asses moving," she growled snapping them out of it.

The Bialyan soldiers ran up and bound his hands with multiple ropes and stood back, holding the ropes as tight as they could as a man in a grey hoodie, and a girl with white and silver scales, long almost white hair wrapped in a high ponytail, orange eyes with slit pupils, claws, a long tail flicking out behind her, and dressed in a white and grey tube top, black jeans, blue knee-high boots, and silver cuffs on her wrists and upper arms.

"You must control his mind," a soldier said.

"Doesn't seem to be much mind left to control," Psimon said lowering his hood, revealing a clear skull showing his brain. "But be still." The clone stopped moving and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Tyrant, load 'im up," the blonde girl ordered the large boy.

"Yes Rogue," he said with a nod, lifting him off the ground, he tossed the unconscious teen into the truck.

As the others loaded up Rogue sniffed the air. "He's close, I can smell his scent."

The winged girl looked off in the direction she was looking. "Want me to search the skies?"

"No Terrorwing, for now we wait. The set will be complete soon enough," Rogue said as she and the other hybrids hopped into one of the trucks.

-.-

Onyx crouched close to the sand as he stared at the strange black box sitting in the middle of the desert, he could smell the unfamiliar scents covering the old. Using his infrared vision he looked to see men hiding under a layer of sand, surrounding the box.

It was an ambush.

So they were waiting for someone to return…but who? Sighing, he checked the air again, this time catching another familiar-for-some-reason-I-can't-remember-scent. Crawling closer, he looked to see a boy in a red vest, with a black and yellow cape—reminding him of some of the small island birds he liked to watch—running towards the box. He stopped suddenly and hid, before peering back out and landing next to the box, and the men popped out of the sand, like daisies.

"Her Majesty wants him alive!" one called in a language the hybrid didn't understand.

They charged at the boy, when he dropped a smoke bomb, making him wrinkle his nose in disgust at the scent. The smoke cleared and four of the men were already down, the colorful boy flipped tossed several odd objects at some, knocking their guns out of their hands, before he ran over and flipped onto one's shoulders, and tossing him into another man, before jump off two more's heads.

"Enough! Open fire!"

Seeing the men grab their weapons and aim them at the boy, he shrieked and jumped out, slamming two of them aside. The men fired and he twisted, using his tail and back to take the bullets that bounced off the scales.

"I'll take that! Thanks!" one of the familiar scents from earlier called rushing past like a blur and suddenly the men's weapons were gone.

Growling he tore the guns away from the two men he had, before tossing them into the men the colorful one was fighting. The boy turned in surprise before giving him a thumbs up. Seeing the men get up, he was about to call and warn him, when they suddenly blasted back by an unknown force and he jumped as a green girl appeared in the middle of the air.

One man was trying to run, when an arrow flew past and released a bola, wrapping around his legs. Looking up he saw the source of another familiar scent.

"KF! Man, it's good to see a familiar face!" the colorful one exclaimed taking the fast one's hand.

"Hey Rob, memory loss?" he asked.

"Six months! Let's hog tie these creeps and compare notes!" the colorful one—who he now knew as Rob—exclaimed in frustration. The pair split up and started dragging men over together, getting the memo, Onyx grabbed two more and tossed them over, as the green girl dropped several others and Rob began tying them up.

He backed away, leaving a reasonable distance between him and them. While they may've smelled familiar, he didn't know them, and he sure as hell didn't trust them. For all he knew, they were the ones who took him in the first place.

"So does anyone know what exactly is going on?" the blonde girl asked.

"I do!" the green girl exclaimed. "We're a team, friends! We get sent out on missions by the Justice League to fight crimes undercover!"

"…So we're a team?" Robin asked skeptically.

"The five of us and Superboy," the green girl stated.

"So this must be his," Rob said holding out a piece of black cloth with a large red S on the front.

"Yes! Did you see him?"

"I think we did," the blonde said.

"Feral boy? Some teammate he attacked us," KF grumbled, tossing an accusing glare at him. "Then he was attacked by several people that looked like you. You know them?"

Nightmare blinked, as far as he knew, he was the only one the doctor made.

"None I'm aware of" he growled baring his fangs threateningly, surprised his voice seemed accustomed to speaking in human tongue. "So, who are y'all? Because the last thing I remember was hunting an injured stegosaurus with my pack?"

"You aren't the only one who doesn't know who we are," the blonde girl said crossing her arms.

He sniffed the air, she wasn't lying. Good, maybe this human could be of some use to him if the rest turned out to be threats. He would need a guide to get him back home.

"I remember Batman ordering radio silence. Our team must work for him!" Rob exclaimed.

"Who?"

"How do we know we don't work for my mentor?" KF said touching the lightning symbol on his chest, and they jumped as his suit changed from black and grey to an obnoxious red and yellow. "Whoa. This is so cool!" He kept pressing it, switching back and forth between the two color-schemes.

Onyx looked down at the W on his uniform, was that his symbol? Seemed a little strange for him, but he shrugged and pressed it…and nothing happened. Looking at the others, he smiled lightly as he saw Rob and blonde girl touching their symbols, only for nothing to happen.

"We look ridiculous!" the blonde girl exclaimed as KF continued changing colors. "Stop touching yourself!" He changed back to black and grey, before stopping.

"I don't know about you people, but I want my memories back," he said.

_"__To help Superboy…"_

_Onyx jumped as he found himself in a new environment, surrounded by moving images, his tail bumped something and he yanked it back to see the other three looking around them just as shocked and confused as he was._

_"__I brought you into my mind to share whatever memories I have recovered so far," the green girl said appearing in front of them. "But I need your help. Together our broken memories can form a whole, if you open your minds to mine."_

_"__You wanna paw through our private thoughts?!" the blonde exclaimed._

_"__I have no wish to intrude, but—"_

_"__You need to hack our minds to figure out what happened to us, got it. Go," Rob said._

_"__My brain's all yours, try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you," KF said with a cocky smile._

_"__Or underwhelm you, hey, why isn't anyone just whelmed?" Rob asked._

_They all looked at him and the other girl. "So…you're going to be inside my mind?" Nightmare asked cautiously._

_"__Yes, but it's only to find out what happened to us," the green girl replied._

_Biting his lip, he looked down; he wanted to know what the heck happened and where the hell he was, but at the same time…having someone else in his head…it wasn't natural. Taking a breath, he looked up at her. "O-ok."_

_"__Last six months, and only what you need," the blonde girl said finally agreeing._

_The girl's eyes began to glow and suddenly they were looking at the past._

_"__The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan Desert," Batman said pulling up a map. "Spectral analysis revealed non-terrestrial elements in origin. Find out what happened at that site and what landed there. Bialyia is a Rogue state, ruled by Queen Bee, and is not a member of the League's UN charter; all communications are subject to interception, keep radio silence at all times. You'll land in Qurac, on Bialyia's border, two clicks from the hot zone."_

_The image changed and they were suddenly all in the desert._

_"__All clear!" Robin called as Superboy unloaded the black box._

_Nightmare, Artemis, and Robin knelt on an overhang, looking over a camp. "The Bialyians control the site."_

_"__Set up here," another voice said and Superboy set the box down. _

_"__We'll be up and running in no time," Robin said as he typed on the screen._

_"__Bingo! The sites lousy with Zeta Beam radiation!" Kid Flash exclaimed._

_"__Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent," Robin said._

_"__I'll check it out in camouflage mode," Miss Martian said._

_"__Careful Miss M, camo isn't completely invisible," Nightmare warned._

_"__And maintain telepathic contact," a blonde boy with dark skin ordered._

_"__I will Aqualad."_

"Aqualad!" they all exclaimed coming out.

"Where is he? What happened next?" Robin questioned.

"I don't know, that's the last thing we remember," M'gann replied.

Sniffing the air, Nightmare caught Kaldur's scent. "He's about a mile northeast."

"Let's go! We've been out in the desert for over twenty-four hours, that can't be good for a guy with gills," Wally said as they fallowed Onyx.

-.-

"Raise to shock level four," a scientist said as they studied Superboy's reactions. Shocking him again, he cried out and writhed in pain, and the sphere in the other containment unit began to spin.

"Fascinating," Psimon said staring at the screen in a separate tent.

"Maybe for you," Rogue yawned from where she sat on the couch. "Are we done? This is so boring."

"Don't you need to find your friend?" the telepath asked looking at the Indominus-human hybrid.

Narrowing her eyes, she stood up and glared down at him, baring her fangs. "What my team needs to do is none of your concern, Psimon," she snarled, her tail swinging back and forth in anger. "We will get A1 when the time is right, and do not doubt he _will_ be returned to where he belongs, and he _will_ see the Light."

"O-Of course," he stuttered, he would've brain blasted her back, but touching the group of hybrids was forbidden by Queen Bee. "Then I suppose you are finished here. I'll have some men prepare the truck and an escort."

"We don't need protection," the Pteranodon-human hybrid snarled.

"I know, but it's My Queen's orders, you understand right?" he asked.

The two girls rolled their eyes. "Fine, now get out of my sight," the leader said sitting back down and waving him off. Giving them a bow, Psimon eagerly left.

"Humans are all fools," Terrorwing said sitting next to the squad leader.

"Agreed, at least our masters have some sense, how our brother has survived among them alone will forever floor me," Rogue said examining her claws.

"Why don't we just get A1 now?" the t-rex hybrid huffed. "I can smell him from here, he's not far."

The Ankilosaur-human mix agreed. "We can take him and his so-called friends!"

"We may not ever have to face them," stegosaur hybrid stated, "he could be all alone ripe for the taking."

Rogue growled and bore her teeth at the boys. "Enough! We will get him when the time is right! For now, we wait. Unlike you two idiots, our brother is very smart, fast, agile, strong, and has survived on his own in the wild with other dinosaurs of all species for years. And his new allies are no easy prey either, we will need a plan, and a well-executed one at that, to get him. As well as the order from Master, am I clear?" The two boys looked down, but didn't say a word as the third boy smacked them upside the head. Sighing, she got up and jabbed her claws under their chins, making both freeze in fear as the daggerish nails dug into the skin dangerously close to their arteries. "I said: Am. I. Clear?"

"Yes."

"Good." Releasing them, she flopped down on the couch, waiting for the soldier saying they would be leaving.

-.-

They found Kaldur unconscious behind some rocks, muttering things in his native tongue. "I can't restore his memories while he's like this," M'gann said.

"He needs immediate rehydration, call the Bioship," Robin ordered.

"It's out of range, Wally, you could get him there fast," the Martian girl replied.

"He's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel," he huffed before pointing at Artemis, "right now, I couldn't even carry her."

Artemis smacked his arm. "Why not just levitate him back?"

"I can't I have to find Superboy, six months ago he didn't exist, he has no memories, I'm the only one who can help him," she proclaimed.

"It's Aqualad that needs your help right now M'gann," Onyx reminded.

M'gann cried out and grabbed her head. "Superboy's in pain! He can't wait!" she exclaimed flying off.

"WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT ERASED OUR MEMORIES! IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN!" Robin shouted after her.

The Martian girl ignored their protests and flew off in the direction of the tent.

"Hey Nightmare, you're fast, can't you run him to the Bioship?" Artemis asked.

"…Maybe, if I can remember where it is, by this point the scent trail leading to it will have gone cold," he replied nervously flicking his tail.

Robin pulled up a map and showed it to him. "Alright so we're here, and the Bioship is here, across the border," he informed as Nightmare gazed over the map.

"I can get him there, I don't have any medical training to help him, but I can get him to the ship."

"It's a start, we'll meet you there," Robin said.

Crouching down, he let them hoist the dead weight onto his back. While Kaldur was heavy, he wasn't nearly as heavy as some of the dinosaurs he's carried back to the pack. Grunting he grabbed onto Aqualad's legs and stood up, nodding to the others, he broke into a run towards the ship.

"C'mon, we better get going before he gets too far ahead," Artemis said.

"I'll go keep him company!" Wally exclaimed running after.

"And then there were two."

-.-

"HEY MAN!" KF exclaimed, nearly making Onyx trip in shock.

"Don't do that!" he growled regaining his footing.

"Sorry, figured you could use the company, you since your current companion is down for the count," Kid shrugged.

"Thought you didn't have enough fuel to run all the way back to the ship?" Nightmare asked.

"I only have enough to get myself back," he smiled.

"Of course," he sighed slowing to a stop he looked around for the next leg of the trip.

-.-

"My Lady, the truck is ready to go," a soldier said with a bow.

"Good, it'll be nice to have my bed back," Rogue smiled hopping to her feet.

Catching a strange scent, Tyrant sniffed the air again. "Rogue."

"I know, tell the truck to wait, it seems we must evaluate the situation and deem if it is worth our time to interfere," she sighed. "I'll call if I need you."

Walking to the primary tent, she saw the scientists electrocuting the clone get tossed aside by an almost invisible force. Switching to infrared she saw that the force was a girl who was now deactivating the controls.

Growling, she lunged and slammed into her, knocking the Martian girl out of camouflage and onto the ground. "My dear, allow me to handle this," Psimon said walking next to the hybrid girl.

"Don't mess up, or Queen Bee will have to find a new psychic," she snarled whipping around and strutting out of the tent.

"Well?" Terrorwing asked from where she was perched on the truck.

"Just the Martian girl, Psimon is dealing with her," Rogue replied hopping in. "Let's move!"

-.-

"Finally," Onyx sighed as they spotted the familiar ship. Racing over the ramp went down, and a table appeared, where Nightmare gratefully set the dead weight he now knew as his team leader. "Ok, so…do you have any medical skill?"

"Didn't living alone on an island for however many years teach you any first aid?"

"Not standard."

"…I think there's an IV bag around here somewhere, help me look!"

-.-

Robin and Artemis slowly trudged through the desert, envying their teammates for their super speed.

Looking at his scanner, Robin nearly groaned, a truck was heading their direction. Motioning to Artemis, they ducked behind some rocks, they watched as it went past.

"That was close," Artemis whispered.

"No kidding," he said peering up, as a girl landed in front of a group of soldiers, her wings flicking in what seemed to be annoyance.

"Do you think…" Artemis began.

"That she's like Nightmare, yeah," Robin supplied watching her closely.

Terrorwing growled muttering curses in Pteranodon under her breath, Tyrant claimed to smell something, but as far as she was concerned there was nothing here, and if there was, it probably wasn't worth her time. "Keep looking! I'm going to catch up with my team!" she snapped and the men nodded as she blasted off into the dark night sky.

Seeing her leave, Robin saw opportunity practically standing there waving with a neon sign. "Stay here."

Nodding Artemis crouched down as the Boy Wonder vanished, only to come back a minute later. "What did you need to do?"

"Break radio silence."

Furrowing her brows, Artemis' silent confused question was answered as Robin's trademarked laughter broke out, leading the men away where the sound of an explosion went off and smoke rolled over the area.

"Let's go we're not far!"

-.-

**Qurac: September 4, 23:42**

"'Bout time y'all got here," Onyx sighed as Artemis and Robin finally arrived to see the results of what appeared to be a tornado inside the ship.

"How is he?"

"Better now that we managed to give him fluids," Kid sighed, obviously tired. "Took us forever to find it."

"Me and my bleeding heart," Nightmare muttered reaching into his pocket. "Here." Almost jumping in surprise, Kid Flash caught the protein bar. "What? You looked like you were about to keel over."

"Thanks, oh! Artemis! You never did explain why your dad wanted to kill me?" Wally said making the slicing motion along his neck with the food.

"Oh! Uh, I was confused with a movie I was watching. It was about a girl who's ninja dad wanted her to kill her ninja boyfriend because he was from a rival ninja clan."

"So I'm your ninja boyfriend?"

"Amnesia remember?" she growled. "I forgot how truly annoying you are!"

"As if you're the goddess of congeniality!"

Robin and Nightmare looked at each other before coughing awkwardly. "Do we need to get you a room?"

"No!"

_"__Hey everybody! I got Superboy!"_ Miss Martian exclaimed. _"He's back to normal and we're on our way!"_

Aqualad shot up with a gasp. "Who are you?! And what are you doing inside my head?!"

_"__Hello Megan, knew I was forgetting something! I still need to restore Aqualad's memories!"_

_"__Dang it! I also forgot something! I didn't get a souvenir from the mission!"_ Wally whined.

_"__Don't worry, I think we have the souvenir thing covered._

-.-

**Mt. Justice: September 5, 9:35**

"And all of you saw this?" Batman asked.

"No, Nightmare and Aqualad didn't see any," Robin said. "I saw a girl with scales and wings."

"Artemis, Kid Flash, how many did you see?"

"Well…"

"There was the big one."

"And the one that could fly."

"Let's not forget the ones with the scary looking tails."

"So four?"

"Yes."

"Miss Martian, you reported seeing them as well?"

She shook her head. "I only saw one and it wasn't any of the ones they just described," M'gann replied. "She was…intimidating, but not in size, it was her demeanor. She threatened to kill Psimon should he fail."

"Yikes," Robin winced.

"I actually have seen one," Aqualad said walking forwards.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "When?"

"It was back when I went to Atlantis, I didn't think anything of it till now," he answered apologetically, "she looked like an ordinary Atlantean girl. She was the one who was trying to help Black Manta recover the giant sea star."

"Nightmare, were you ever told of any others like you, anything you can remember?" Batman asked noticing the boy seemed nervous and confused.

"…N-no, not once, Dr. Wu never said anything that would lead me to believe there were others like me…I thought…" he trailed off for a moment seeming to think. "A1."

Batman's eyes narrowed at the term. "A1?"

The hybrid nodded. "That's what he called me, I was always A1."

"And if you were one, then there had to be ones after you!" Robin grinned.

"But what does the A stand for?" Superboy questioned.

"I don't know, that's just what I was."

"Nightmare, did you ever see the others?" Batman questioned, not missing the way the teen flinched, keeping his eyes averted and head down.

"No."

"Why not?"

Nightmare rubbed the small scar on the bridge of his nose as he remembered the feeling of the suffocating muzzle and too tight chains used to restrain him. "…I don't know."


	14. Foreign Affairs

Chapter 13

**A/N: alright I just own this **story** and my OCs, the hybrids, YJ and JP are not mine.**

**"****Raptor or other dinosaur"**

**/comm/**

**_Telepathy_**

**Mt. Justice: September 7, 6:25**

Onyx yawned as he woke up, looking at his clock, he sighed. Not surprising that he woke up at almost six in the morning even after going to sleep around four, his sleep cycles had been inconsistent due to the new information about the so called "Reptile Club" and the theories around it and him. Not even Titan was helping.

Getting up, he went to the kitchen and pulled a thing of bacon from the freezer. Grabbing a pan he began cooking one of the only things he bothered to learn from M'gann.

It wasn't long before said girl walked in with her ever bright, cheery smile. "Morning Onyx!"

"Mornin'," he replied sticking all the slices he cooked on his plate before she got to them.

"How did you sleep?" she asked and he raised an eyebrow. "Still not that well, huh?"

"Just trying to wrap my head around everything."

"Well! Are you excited for school?!" she smiled hoping to cheer him up. He flicked his tail up into her field of view and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Oh…right…," she deflated a bit. "Do you wanna help me make Superboy's and I's lunches?"

Shrugging, he abandoned his plate, and stalked over. He wasn't hungry anyways.

"Ok…what do I do?"

M'gann smiled widely and pulled out the supplies. "Ok! Can you put the peanut butter and jelly on the bread while I get the chips, fruit, drinks, and candy?"

"Yeah," he replied taking the bread and the two jars. Pulling out a knife, he quickly made the simple sandwiches and put them in the paper bags just as M'gann was putting the candy in.

"Thanks!" she exclaimed hugging him. "C'mon!" Grabbing his arm she dragged him to the hangar. "Ready Superboy? I packed our lunches!"

"The beginning of the scholastic season carries great resonance, we want to wish you both well," Martian Manhunter said as he, Kaldur, and Red Tornado joined them.

"Guess it's not a Kryptonian thing," Superboy muttered.

"You may wish to change, before you depart," Kaldur advised.

M'gann gushed. "I spent hours choosing this outfit! What do you think? Can M'gann M'orzz pass as an Earth girl now?"

"Uh, well…"

"Just kidding!" she said changing skin tones. "Meet Megan Morse! What's your new name Superboy?"

J'ohn transformed into his human identity. "I chose the name John Jones for myself, and suggested John Smith for Red Tornado."

"Wow generic much?" Nightmare sighed.

"You could be a John too."

Superboy shook his head. "Pass."

"You know, Conner's always been my favorite name," Megan said blushing.

The newly named Conner shrugged. "A last name will also be required," Kaldur said.

"How about, Kent?" J'ohn suggested.

"In memory of Dr. Fate, the late Kent Nelson!" M'gann said.

"Uh…sure."

"Ok, sure. Guess it'll be an honorary thing or something," Conner Kent shrugged.

"Well, Conner Kent, time to change your shirt! You don't want your identity found out!"

Sighing, Superboy removed his shirt and turned it inside out. "Does this work?"

"Works for me," Miss M sighed clearly ignoring the shirt.

"It's fine," Onyx said.

They turned and began walking away. "Shouldn't I be Conner Nelson?"

"They grow up so fast," J'ohn sighed.

"Tell me about it," Onyx huffed getting weird looks from the others, making him cross his arms and looked down as a pink tinge crept to the pale skin surrounding the scales on his cheeks. "What? I helped raise the hatchlings back in the pack…I'll be in the training room."

Hiding his embarrassed blush, he quickly left towards his destination, he really needed to practice his distance weapons anyways.

"Hey, uh, computer, can you set up the practice targets?" he spoke out, feeling slightly stupid talking to an empty room.

Holo-targets appeared around the room. "Practice targets engaged."

Pulling out his lasso, he took a breath, the places he hit turning red. Giving one last swing, he grinned when he made a bull's eye, turning back to the others he sighed, the rest were either on the edge, a cow's eye, or completely missed.

"How does Wonder Woman make it look so easy?" he muttered a little dejectedly.

"Incoming call from: Red Arrow," the computer said.

/It's me, I may…possibly be in over my head/ he said.

"And where are you?" Onyx replied a little unsure if he had to press a button for him to hear.

/Who is this?! Where's Aqualad?/

"Hi! I'm Nightmare, I'm new to the Team, and Aqualad is somewhere in the cave," he answered unintentionally adding a wave even though Red Arrow couldn't see it.

/…Can you, uh, get him for me?/

"Sure!" Onyx smiled. "I'll be right back!" Running towards the hangar, he fallowed Kaldur's scent till he found him eating his bacon in the living room.

"I did not know this was yours," the team leader apologized seeing the hybrid charge in, he assumed it was leftovers from M'gann and Superboy's breakfast that morning.

"It's fine, I wasn't hungry anyways. Now, there's a call down in the training room by a Red Arrow saying he may be in over his head," he stated.

Kaldur blinked in surprise before nodding to his teammate. Going down, they heard Red Arrow slightly humming what resembled elevator music over the call. "Roy, you said you require assistance?"

/Yes, Ras al Ghul and the League of Shadows are involved in this, I'm going to need back-up/ he replied.

"We will meet you at the Taipei Zeta port," Aqualad responded, before hanging up. "Do you have anything that will hide your tail?"

"I think I can fit it inside some really baggy sweats," Onyx shrugged.

"Good, meet up here in five," Kaldur said going to get his own sweats.

"Yes!" Onyx exclaimed almost jumping. Racing to his room, he scrambled through the drawers looking for the one set of clothes he hadn't torn through just in case he ever could go out in public. Slipping on the grey pants over his normal uniform he started coiling the tail around his torso, before tossing on the blue hoodie. He looked a little odd due to the extra extremity he was trying to hide, but it would—hopefully—pass for a normal human. He grabbed a pair of reflective glasses that Robin left for him and put his boots back on.

"I'm ready!" he called running to where Kaldur was waiting by the Zeta Tubes.

-.-

**Taipei: September 7: 20:21**

Red Arrow leaned against the alley wall by the old vending machine playing with the buttons of his suit as he waited for Aqualad and for who he assumed was the new member "Nightmare" who he wasn't sure what to think of yet since all they had was a talk over the comms.

"Aqualad—B03. Nightmare—B08."

"Glad you could make it," Red Arrow greeted as Kaldur stepped out, followed by a seemingly overweight boy in bulky sweats, and his face was obscured by dark glasses and a hood.

"Glad to be here," Aqualad replied. "Roy, this is our newest member Nightmare."

The guy lowered his hood revealing a mess of black and red hair, pale skin, and…scales? Taking off the glasses he was surprised to find cat-like golden eyes looking at him. "Hi."

"Nightmare right?" he asked holding out a hand.

"Yeah," he smiled showing a set of sharp fangs and shyly taking his clawed had out of the hoodie pocket to shake it. "So…what's the situation?"

"The League of Shadows is out to kill Lex Luthor and start a war between the Relasias, can you two hide in the crowd till they attack?" he asked.

"I'm not sure how well I'd blend it," Nightmare replied tossing up the hood again. "Or how well a 'mysterious hooded figure' would be accepted into a peace summit."

"Perhaps he could hide up in the chandelier? Or one of the rafters?" Aqualad suggested.

"How good's your balance?" Roy asked and the kid grinned.

"I can run on the sail of a full-grown Spinosaurus while it's sprinting."

"Uh…That sounds…pretty good, let's head over, we still have to get there before the summit starts," Roy said leading the way.

Kaldur walked a little faster and joined his old friend, glancing back to make sure they didn't lose the hybrid in the crowd. "You could have called Green Arrow or the League, but instead you called the Cave, why?"

Red Arrow sighed, he should've expected this. "The Team has my respect, I'm still getting used to the solo act stuff," he stated. "So what's his story?" He motioned back to Onyx whom was gazing in awe at the city around him.

"We encountered him on one of our missions on a deserted island," Kaldur stated.

Roy narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "He was working with the bad guys?"

Kaldur shook his head. "No, it was a rescue mission, an ambassador's plane crashed and we were sent to rescue him. When we were about to leave we saw him."

"Ah…so…what exactly is he?" Roy questioned.

"I'm half human, half velociraptor," Nightmare answered making both jump slightly. "I can hear you."

"Sorry about that," Roy said as the younger caught up.

"It's fine," he shrugged, "I'm used to it anyways."

They arrived at the hotel, and made their way to the room the summit would be taking place in. "Alright, we have twenty minutes before the summit starts, and ten before people start arriving. We need a plan," Red Arrow stated removing the suit to reveal his uniform.

"How are we going to plan if we don't know how they're going to attack?" Nightmare asked taking off his own cumbersome sweats and sighing as his tail uncurled from around his torso.

"Cheshire will most likely come in through the window or use some other method that would allow her to get close to Luthor," Kaldur stated. "She already tried hiding in the crowd once, this time the agents would be actively looking for her there."

"So what would allow her to get close to Luthor, but not raise any suspicion?" Onyx asked raising an eyebrow.

"Luthor mentioned that he was going to try using a Relasian tea ceremony, the items would be brought up be a geisha," Red Arrow realized. "A prefect cover for a female assassin."

"She'd also have to guarantee he'd die, I doubt they'd let her openly place any knives on the cart," Onyx said. "…But she could hide some on her person."

"Both are fair points my friend, but Red Arrow would be standing with Luthor, so if she tried a knife she would not get far," Kaldur stated.

"Unless…it wasn't her usual M.O…" Red Arrow muttered. "What would guarantee death, but not involve her getting close enough for someone close by to handle it?"

Aqualad frowned. "A bomb."

"And how exactly are we supposed to stop that, because last I checked I can't create shields."

Kladur turned and looked at the water glasses on the long table. "I could use the water in the glasses to make a barrier, it would be thin, but it would hold. We can then deal with the assassins once the smoke clears."

"Works for me," Onyx said with a shrug. "You?"

Red Arrow shrugged. "Better than nothing. Now you two go hide," he said picking up the sweats and hiding them in a pot.

Grabbing his lasso, Onyx tossed it over one of the banisters, letting the loop swing back down towards him. Catching it, he pulled the end through to make sure it stuck, before he started swiftly climbing up. Reaching the top, he sat down, noticing that both Red Arrow and Aqualad were gone and news reporters had started filing into the room as he pulled his lasso up and untied it from the banister.

He saw Kaldur filing in with the reporters and other "important people" there to witness the event as the nation leaders entered with their guards. Joined shortly by Red Arrow and some woman who was accompanying Lex Luthor, the man who apparently now owned _InGen_ and tried to capture him when he was found by the team.

"Settle down now everyone," Luthor said smoothly as he sat down between the feuding leaders. "Let us just calmly talk this issue out, there's no need to go to war. Perhaps if we are successful, we can reunify your nations."

"Reunification is unthinkable!" one exclaimed. "Our peoples no longer have anything in common."

"Gentlemen, this is mere rhetoric. Despite your differences, you still share an appreciation for many things, such as the exquisite art of the Rhelasian Tea Ceremony." Luthor gave a motion and as Red Arrow said a geisha began walking from the back towards the table.

As if on cue, Aqualad turned around with one of his weapons in hand. "That is far enough, Cheshire."

Gasps rang out around the room as people backed away from her. Red Arrow grabbed an arrow out of his quiver and aimed it at her.

Water around the room, began going towards Aqualad as Cheshire pressed a button and shoved the cart towards him. Roy fired an arrow and it hit the cart just as the barrier closed, excluding a certain hybrid hiding up above.

The bomb exploded and Onyx dug his claws in as the room around him shook and increased in temperature. The smoke began clearing and he crawled over to the edge, seeing that the statues below him had fallen and that Kladur's sweats were ripped up, showing his uniform underneath.

Lying not far away was Cheshire, whom was getting to her feet.

"It's over Cheshire," Red Arrow said coming over the statue aiming another arrow at her as Onyx hopped down, landing in a crouch on one of the statues.

The assassin smiled darkly as she stood up. "You would think so," she replied as a helicopter flew up, allowing numerous assassins and a guy in a hockey mask to hop out.

"Take Sportsmaster, Cheshire's mine!" Red Arrow snapped towards Aqualad.

"So territorial and only our third date," she teased.

"Is dating the bad guys an option?" Onyx snickered and Roy fired the arrow. Kaldur took off towards the hockey mask guy, leaving Onyx to glare at the rest of the assassins dealing with the guards. "And I'll get them."

One guard punched the lights out of one, but failed to notice the second coming behind him. Racing over, he summersaulted over the large man's shoulders and kicked the incoming assassin in the face. another one came at him from the right and he spun around, allowing his tail to slam into him and send him flying into another assassin. Another swung a staff at him, rolling under he swiped his legs out from under him, using the falling man's momentum to his advantage, he let him fall right into his fist. Rolling to his feet, he saw several fighting guards closer to the leaders and Luthor who were still foolishly watching the fight, along with several camera crews.

Growling, he grabbed the assassin's staff, and ran towards them, vaulting over one confused guard who seemed to think he was on the opposing side. Landing he hit one assassin on the back of the head, effectively knocking him out before leaning back to avoid a punch. Using the staff from the previous assassin, he swung it up under his opponent's chin, before using the other end to slam him back.

"Let's end this!" Roy called firing an arrow up and the sprinkler system activated pouring water down on all of them. The water began glowing and moving to where Kladur formed it into a giant eel.

Onyx and Roy watched as it slammed aside the assassins that the hybrid missed and made its way towards Sportsmaster. Cheshire landed in front of him and put on her mask, tossing something into its mouth making the water plop back down to the ground as smoke filled the air making the three cough.

One assassin jumped out of the smoke towards the group. "Mercy," Luthor said and his assistant's arm turned into a gun and she shot him aside.

They turned back towards the opening, but the rest of the assassins were gone.

"Gives new meaning to the arms race, doesn't she?" Luthor asked.

Both leaders sighed and shook his hand. "That technology is most impressive."

"We owe you our lives."

"They owe _him_ their lives?" Red Arrow scoffed.

"Yeah, we did all the work," Nightmare hissed, baring his fangs as his hair fluffed up slightly.

-.-

The event moved downstairs and the three heroes leaned against the wall as the treaty was signed. The other two moved to leave and Nightmare fallowed as they went past the photographers and news people looking for interviews.

"I can't believe we just did a solid for Lex Luthor," Red Arrow grumbled.

"Not for Luthor, for peace," Aqualad restated as they went outside. "Beyond that, Ras the and League of Shadows wanted to sabotage the summit. The signing of the treaty renders the contract moot. It is over."

"Is it?" Red Arrow asked. "I heard what Sportsmaster said. Do you really think there's a mole on your team feeding him intel?"

"Mole?" Nightmare asked tilting his head before his golden eyes went wide. "Wait…you mean there's a traitor?"

"I cannot rule out the possibility, I will investigate, quietly," Aqualad said.

"Not tell them?" Roy said surprised.

"Are we seriously considering this?"

"I do not want the unit unraveling over baseless suspicions. And if there is a mole, I do not wish to tip him or her off," Kaldur replied. "Nightmare, I will require your help."

"Me?" he squeaked.

"Good luck with that, just remember if you need my help I'll be there," Red Arrow said walking away.

"Why me?!" Onyx exclaimed.

"Because, you know, and are fully apprised of the mole situation," Kaldur smiled.

**"****I hate you."**

"I do not speak raptor my friend," he said putting a hand on his shoulder. "But it is mostly because you have shown you truly have no clue about the other hybrids we have seen. I have seen you going over all the details you can possibly think of that would help you remember any clue to them. And had you been on their side, your first instinct would've been to find them when we were in Bialya, not find us based on scents you recognized."

"And…how exactly are we going to investigate this?" Nightmare asked after a moment.

"Look for small hints, if you see anything odd tell me."

"…ok," he said quietly, looking down at the ground.

Feeling a chill run up his spine, he whimpered as he looked behind him to see Lex Luthor watching with interest.


	15. Family Problems

Chapter 14

**A/N: I just own Onyx/Nightmare as well as the other hybrids, they're my OCs, everything else, not mine.**

**/comm/**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**"****Raptor"**

**Mt. Justice: September 22, 7:57**

Onyx sat up in bed, holding Titan as he rubbed his eyes finally happy he at least got one full night's rest. He hadn't stopped worrying about the other hybrids, but the problem of the "mole" he had to help with had joined the other issue he was facing. So far, he hadn't seen anything that would indicate that anyone was betraying them, but then again, he didn't know what signs to look for. And he hadn't noticed anything "odd" that would warrant attention.

Unless one could count Kaldur's recent behavior towards everyone as odd.

Looking at the clock he groaned, Conner and M'gann would be at school by now, leaving him alone with said crazy leader.

Crawling out of bed, he slipped on his uniform and made his way to the kitchen. On the front of the fridge there was a note.

_Onyx,_

_Made pancakes, left in microwave to keep them warm. I promise I did not burn them this time! Red Tornado said he downloaded Netflix and Hulu onto the TV, I heard it's good! And Canary was looking for you this morning, said she wanted to talk to you. Kladur is visiting Atlantis for the day, so you have the Cave to yourself._

_See you later,_

_Megan __?_

Shrugging, he opened the microwave to find chocolate chip pancakes, they were a little cold, but hey, food was food…and last time he used the microwave he set the popcorn on fire, so he was not eager to try again.

Turning on the TV, he pressed the red Netflix button, and found himself staring at a long list of shows and movies. Going to categories, he searched through them till he found one that sounded interesting. He'd seen plenty of action movies, thank you Wally and Conner. Disney, he, Artemis, and M'gann binge-watched every single one they could find and he now had all the songs committed to memory. Horror, did once, couldn't sleep for two days—he nearly strangled Wally for that. And Kaldur insisted they watched documentaries all the time, so he was kinda sick of those.

Watching through a few anime, he frowned as he saw a show on the recommendation list.

"The heck is Attack on Titan?" he muttered pressing the start button.

-.-

**16:43**

**"****WHAT!? NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! JUST NO! YOU ASSHOLES! STOP PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS YOU INFERNAL SHOW!"**

Conner, Kaldur, and M'gann stood watching their teammate roar at the TV. "Um…are you ok?" Conner questioned.

**"****No! I am not O.K!"** Onyx snapped glaring at the screen, his tail thrashing and his hair fluffed up angrily.

"Maybe you need a break?" M'gann suggested. She didn't understand a single thing he just screeched, but odds were he was saying he was fine when he obviously wasn't.

**"****I do not need a break, I need to see what happens next!"** he exclaimed hopping back on the couch and grabbing the remote to start the next episode, only to start growling as he realized he just reached the end of the current season.

"We're going down to work on my bike," Conner said as he and M'gann backed out of the room.

Sighing Kaldur walked over and put his hand on the unusually irritated hybrid's shoulder. "We have to discuss our issue with Red Tornado," he said and the younger growled. Gold eyes looked at him and Kaldur could almost see him contemplate if following orders would be worth it.

"…Fine," he drawled out getting up. They made their way down to the training room where Tornado was waiting.

"What was it you wish to speak to me about?"

"We have reason to think there's a mole on the Team," Aqualad stated.

"Why?"

"Sportsmaster passed information to him that makes him think there's a mole," Onyx shrugged.

"And you have told no one else of this mole?"

"We cannot be certain there is one, but if it does, we must investigate without tipping our hands," Kaldur said.

"Can't we just tell Batman and let him figure it out? He is 'the world's greatest detective,'" Nightmare pointed out emphasizing with finger quotes.

"Generally, the Batman expects the Team to figure out its issues, but the decision is yours," Tornado replied. "I will return after monitor duty on the Watchtower."

"I thought you were exempt from monitor duty?"

"What's the Watchtower?"

"The Watchtower in the League's orbiting headquarters in outer space, and I am covering for Green Arrow. He has an interpersonal event with Black Canary what I assume is a 'hot date,'" Tornado answered going to the Zetatube.

"Recognized: Red Tornado—16."

"I will go see if any of our teammates in the hangar are hiding anything, do you wish to join me?" Kaldur asked.

"Nope, I'm going to find something else to watch till the next season of that infuriating show comes out!" Onyx exclaimed running off back to the living room.

Flopping down on the couch, he almost screamed when his comm pinged. "What?!"

/Hide! There are intruders in the base!/ Kaldur exclaimed before the comm went dead.

Pausing the show, he looked around the room, and spotted an access panel, plugging his phone. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…yes!" Shoving it in his vest, he jumped onto the stove, removing the panel he crawled up into the vent, using his tail to close it behind him. Climbing up, he pulled out his phone and began deactivating the signal, as well as getting the blueprints he downloaded, suddenly very thankful that all those times he had to break out of his containment on the island were coming in handy.

-.-

**Metropolis: 12:45**

"What is it you needed to see me about?" Diana questioned sitting across from Bruce in the café booth.

"I've got some info on your protégé's parents. I haven't been able to decipher the data on his father. However, I was able to ID his mother," he replied sipping his coffee and moving a file towards the disguised Amazonian Princess.

Picking it up, she peered in before her eyes went wide behind her glasses. "Are you certain?"

"I checked and re-checked, it's a match."

"Well…what are we going to tell him?"

"What you want to say about his father is up to you," Bruce replied after a moment, "but he needs his mother."

Diana groaned rubbing her forehead, "My mother is going to be furious."

-.-

**Cave: 18:43**

"Recognized: Robin—B01, Artemis—B07."

Hearing that, Nightmare crawled through the vents faster, trying to find the only teammates that weren't captured. He saw the others trapped but couldn't do anything because of the two Red Tornado look-alikes walking by them.

As he crawled through he cursed colorfully under his breath. He turned off the motion and heat sensors to prevent from being tracked, but now he couldn't track his team! Growling he made another turn, heading back towards the kitchen vent.

"We need to hide!" Robin said.

"The air vents!" Artemis exclaimed.

Sliding back down, Onyx kicked the cover off before crawling out. "Glad we all had the same thought! Let's go!" he said grabbing them.

"Wait!" Robin said moving towards the panel.

"I already got schematics and turned off the motion and heat sensors, we're good!" he said picking up the lightweight kid and shoving him up after Artemis. Crawling up, he put the cover back in place before fallowing. "Go left," he said. Just as he made the turn a pillar of fire shot through the vent they were just in, scorching his tail. Holding back a cry he pulled it closer, noticing the scales were just slightly burnt where they should've been fried.

"You ok?" Artemis whispered.

"Yeah, just a little singed, it'll heal," he said passing his phone to Robin.

"Thanks…take the first right," he said. "There should be a vent cover right in front of you."

Artemis moved the cover and went down feet first, followed by the Boy Wonder. **"Screw it,"** he muttered just shoving himself down head first. Artemis and Robin landed before moving aside as Onyx crashed in a heaping pile right where they were. "You know, sometimes I hate having a tail, they're more cumbersome than anything."

"I hear ya," Robin said. "We go to the end of this tunnel, there'll be a vent cover."

Crawling to the end, the hopped out, landing on a platform. Robin made a motion and they ran down the stairs, rushing past the heaters and other various pipes as the vent they were in exploded open, revealing a flaming figure. It looked around for them, before the flames rose higher. They leapt off the platform, only to stare as one of the monitors was going into the red zone.

"That's not good," Robin said.

"Really, I thought it was a fantastic sign," Nightmare growled pushing them away. They ran through the steaming systems and under the platform the flame-dude was on.

Spotting the trio, he began to shoot fireballs at them, all of which the three narrowly avoided, before they ducked behind another tank to look at the map.

"I know that other access tunnel is here somewhere," Robin muttered.

"Find it quickly, looks like Lord of the Flame is coming this way!" Onyx snapped his hair standing on end.

"You guys mean this one?" Artemis asked holding a cover open. Robin put an explosive down and they jumped into the vent.

"That was close," Onyx muttered.

"You know exactly what we're up against here?" Artemis asked.

"I'm not sure, but they're androids, look like tornado. I got a glimpse of them before I had to go deeper in the vents to hide, they have the others. KF and SB are trapped in…something, I don't know what, looked like a metal of some sort. And Miss M and Aqualad are in a fire cage, but they're all in the hangar. I was only able to hide because I was in a different part of base at the time, Kal sent me a comm before it was jammed," Onyx informed. "Sorry I can't be more helpful."

"At least we know they're still alive," Rob reassured. Getting into another access panel. "I'll find the fastest way to the hangar."

"Yeah," he sighed.

It wasn't long before Robin pulled away and lead them down a tunnel before removing a panel. Jumping out they found themselves in the library. "There's a secret access panel in one of these bookcases," Robin said.

"Seriously, cliché much?" Artemis scoffed.

"You guys should see the Batcave," Robin huffed leading the way.

They all heard the door open, the other two pulled out their weapons, while Onyx pulled them back behind a shelf, having left his utility belt and other weapons in his room that morning.

"Artemis, Robin, Nightmare."

"It's Red Tornado!" Artemis smiled starting to head out into the open.

Onyx quickly grabbed her arm and pulled them under the android's outstretched arm. As Robin jumped over it. "Yes on the Red, no on the Tornado!" he snapped as they ran to the other library entrance where a female android appeared and shot fire at them. Rolling under it they jumped onto the bookshelves and started jumping across them.

"What are they?!" Artemis exclaimed.

"I already told you, androids that look like Tornado, but don't have his sunny disposition!" Nightmare exclaimed as the sprinklers went off. Both boys hopped off the shelf while Artemis stayed on firing arrows at their attackers, both quickly tugging on books looking for the access tunnel. Finding the right book, they all dove in as the bookshelf fell, and the door closed behind them.

"Did you know Tornado had siblings?!" Artemis questioned as they raced down the hall.

"No," Robin said.

"Not till I saw 'em!" Nightmare stated as they came to a junction.

"So now what? Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League! How are we supposed to take down two of him?!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Well, they're definitely not user friendly," they boys said simultaneously.

"Don't joke!"

"Attention Robin. Attention Artemis. Attention Nightmare. You have exactly ten minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished…nine minutes and forty-five seconds…"

Turning they began running down the hall back towards the hangar.

"Eight minutes."

"We can access the hangar from here," Robin said, before a roaring sound came to them. Whipping around they saw a tide of water coming towards them. "Or not."

"Will you stop that!" Artemis exclaimed as they started sprinting away.

The wave slammed into them, and the three were soon floating in the now underwater hall. Robin detached his cape and pulled out a rebreather, taking a breath, he passed it to Artemis. Nightmare used his tail to propel him closer, the third eyelid sliding into place making his eyes look solid gold as he focused on the forms of heat.

Spotting one of the intruders swimming towards them he grabbed one of her arrows floating in the water, Onyx slammed it into the android's eye, before grabbing Artemis and swimming towards Robin.

The Boy Wonder passed him the grapple, and both grabbed on as they were yanked down the hall and away from the explosives. Swimming into the hangar, Nightmare shot up towards the surface, eagerly gasping in air as his teammates popped up alongside him.

"Look out!" Wally shouted, and all three ducked under water as flames shot where they were. Swimming towards the imprisoned members of their team, they popped back up for air.

"Y'all ok?" Onyx gasped.

"Forget us! Help M'gann," Conner said.

Looking up they saw her unmoving form leaning on a weakening Aqualad.

"Aqualad! Is she…?" Artemis trailed off.

"She's is unconscious, I fear she…we cannot last much longer!"

"DUCK!" Robin called and the three dove as more fireballs came at them. They swam towards the stairs, getting to their feet they began to run up when the aqua-droid rose up behind them and fire-chick landed in their path.

"I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis said.

"I don't have any weapons," Onyx winced.

"Distract her!" Robin said running towards the water one as Artemis fired an arrow.

"And I'm currently useless," Onyx sighed before noticing both were preparing attacks, grabbing both he threw them into the water before diving after. Swimming down, they found another vent cover and ripped it off, going back into the safe haven, finally reaching the surface, all three gasped for air and crawled into another tunnel.

"Six minutes."

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked.

"We save them, that's how it works," Robin stated.

"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work! But those robots took out four of our five super powered friends!" Artemis exclaimed.

"I don't have powers."

"You seem distraught," Robin commented ignoring the quieter teen's comment.

"Distraught! M'gann is dying! Two of us here don't have any powers! And I'm down to my last arrow! Of course I'm distraught!" she snapped.

"I don't have powers!" Onyx spoke out only to be ignored by the feuding pair.

"Well get traught! Or get dead," Robin snapped as he started leading the way.

"How are you two still so calm?" she asked.

"Practice, I've been doing this since I was nine," Robin answered.

"I grew up living on a deadly island, this is nothing."

"What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?" she scoffed.

"Duh, they're machines," Robin groaned.

"And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine in range!" Nightmare grinned.

"You two better have an EMP emitter because I know I don't have one in my quiver," Artemis said.

"Fresh out," Robin said. "Yo Night, Wonder Woman give you any?"

"I don't think there's one in my rope?"

"I will take that as a no."

"But I know we can make one," Nightmare grinned at the same time the Boy Wonder got the same idea.

"What do you say KF, doable?" Robin asked.

/Totally doable/

"Five minutes."

/You know if you had more time. Med-lab, x-ray machine/ he said as they ran to their destination. /You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator that converts high energy pulses, reprogram the units high energy pulses from x-rays to EMPs with a cascading energy vector directed outward/

"A ripple effect, like dropping a stone in a pond," Robin said.

"A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage," Nightmare stated. "We're gonna to have to hook it up to the cave's main generator."

"Which is where?" Artemis asked and the boys looked at each other.

-.-

"Four minutes."

Removing another panel, the three hopped out and crept along the wall over the flight hangar entrance.

"Ok…start the distraction," Robin said.

"I really hope this works," Onyx muttered.

"HEY! RED TOMATO! WHO'S YOUR GIRLFRIEND? RED ONION?!" KF shouted.

"We're screwed," Nightmare muttered.

"Be positive!" Robin scolded.

"YEAH! AND BTW, WORST DEATHTRAP EVER! WE CAN ESCAPE ANYTIME WE WANT!" Conner joined in.

"I'm positive we're screwed."

"I CAN VIBRATE MY MOLECULES OUTTA HERE BEFORE YOUR BINARY BRAINS CAN COUNT TO TWO!"

"Cover us," Robin said as he and Nightmare swung over to the main generator.

"AND YOU CAN'T KILL A KRYPTONIAN DUMB-BOTS! WE DON'T BREATHE AIR!"

Crouching down they opened a panel and began to attach the vircator.

"AND MISS MARTIAN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE BUYING HER ACT!"

"Rerouting power now," Robin said.

"YEAH! DO YOU KNOW HOW HOT IT GETS IN THE CAVES OF MARS! YOU'RE JUST MAKING HER HOMESICK!"

"Rob, the circuit's incomplete," Nightmare hissed as he began searching his pockets. "We need some piece of metal."

"GUYS LOOK OUT!" Artemis screamed as a wave slammed into both of them.

Grabbing her arrow, Artemis aimed it at the water android, only for a fireball to throw off her aim as she shot the arrow, making her miss her target. Backing up she reached for her quiver only to find it empty. Rushing back into the vent, a blast of flame came in and knocked her forwards.

Rubbing her head, she got up and continued crawling to a tear in the tunnel that had obviously been made by several distinct claws where she could see into the hangar.

Two columns of water rose with her friends trapped inside, looking closer she saw Robin wasn't moving and his mouth was open, while Onyx was grabbing his throat.

Crawling back, she put her hands on her head, tears streaming down her face as she saw the images of her trapped friends flash through her head. "No, no, no, no, no," she whimpered.

Looking out again she saw Aqualad had also passed out, the water was now at Conner's and Wally's chins, and the water torrents had deposited Robin and Nightmare onto the ground.

Neither one was moving.

"I surrender, I die with the others, but if I find a way out, out of the cave, out of the mountain, I can contact the League, get help."

The tunnel suddenly sloped forwards and sent her tumbling down the vent shaft and into the trophy room.

Sitting up, she sighed in defeat. "Who am I kidding, best I can do is hide, hope the League finds me before the Reds," she murmured. Looking to the trophy case, she saw the mask of Cheshire. "I know you understand."

_Flashback_

_Eleven-year-old Artemis watched as her older sister packed her things. "We have to keep this family from falling apart," she said._

_"__Toothbrush, duh, knew I was forgetting something," Jade said walking towards their shared bathroom._

_"__Dad will come after you."_

_"__Let him," Jade smirked putting on a baseball cap, "I'll just disappear, like the Cheshire cat." Slinging her bag over her shoulder she stopped in the doorway. "You should get out too. I'd take you with me, but you'd slow me down."_

_"__Someone has to be here when Mom gets out," the little girl responded._

_The elder rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Haven't you learned anything? In this family, it's every girl for herself."_

Picking up the mask Artemis gazed at it. "That might've been true about our family, but I've found a new one, and here we're all for one and one for all," she said.

"One minute."

Looking next to the mask, she found the arrow she used to save Kid Flash's life when they fought Amazo. Grabbing it, she put it in her quiver and made her way to the hangar.

Getting into the elevator, she took a breath to calm her nerves down. The door opened and the two androids looked at her. "I surrender, stop the clock."

She looked into the flaming box to see Kaldur roll over and look at her, Robin was still lying where he was dropped, Onyx had cuffs on his wrists and there was a muzzle covering the lower half of his face, and then Conner's and Wally's heads vanished under the water as they took a last desperate breath.

The aqua-droid held out his hand for her bow, but she jumped, vaulting off the metal hand. The second one raised its hand to shoot fire at her, but she pushed off its face, using it to flip her. Grabbing her arrow, she took aim and fired it towards the main reactor, completing the circuit.

The sound of electricity filled the room and a pulse spread out across it, deactivating both androids.

The fire cage dissipated and the water levels sank back down to normal. "Kaldur! How's M'gann?" Conner called.

"She breathes, I believe she will recover. What of Robin and Nightmare?" he said looking towards the two unconscious forms lying nearby.

Artemis rushed over and knelt between them, Robin began coughing, and sat up a little shakily, she looked at Onyx, who didn't move, but was breathing shallowly.

"They're breathing," she said in relief.

"Way to get traught," Robin smiled as Artemis went over and started removing the cuffs and muzzle from the trembling hybrid. As soon as the object covering his nose and mouth was off, Onyx began coughing and sat up.

"And this is why I've always hated water," he groaned lying back down as he used his tail to knock the restraints away, "that and plenty of the amphibious species back home have tried to eat me."

Artemis smirked standing up and nudging him with her boot. "C'mon, get up," she said and he sighed, before springing to his feet.

Looking over he saw the two droids. "You just want me to move those don't ya?" he sighed.

"Well, currently you're the only one strong enough to move them," she smiled.

**"****Why me?"** he grumbled going over and grabbing the water one. Taking it to the edge of the platform he dropped it before grabbing and doing the same to the other one.

"Did you really have to drop them like that?" Wally asked.

"These things tried broke in and tried to kill us, they do not deserve any hospitality," he answered tilting his chin up.

"Ah, wonderful Velociraptor hospitality," Wally remised, "you sure know how to make people feel unwelcome."

"Then we're doing it right."

M'gann groaned as she began to wake up. "What happened?"

"Evil Red Tornadoes invaded the cave, Artemis saved our butts, so all-in-all another wonderful victory," Onyx replied.

"I wouldn't have saved you guys if you, Robin, and KF didn't set up the EMP," she reminded.

"Yeah, don't let her take all the credit," Robin grinned hopping on Onyx's back.

As soon as Kaldur had M'gann supported on his shoulders, they headed downstairs.

"You two ok?" Wally asked looking at the two who almost drowned.

"Yeah, we figured our only shot was to surrender, I pretended to drown before I actually did, blacked out though," Robin shrugged.

"I also passed out," Nightmare added rubbing the back of his head as his tail swayed slowly by his feet.

"M'gann," Conner said taking her hand.

"I'll be fine," she said weakly.

"M'gann and Conner sitting in a tree—OW!" Onyx yelped when Robin stepped on his tail.

"Oops?"

"Will you quit playing with that and cut us free already!" Wally snapped at Artemis.

"It doesn't work remember? EMP shuts down all machines," she retorted.

"All machines present at the time," Red Tornado said flying in, making all of them jump. "What has occurred?"

"We had a little visit from your family," Robin said.

"You're very nasty family!" Artemis added.

"I was not aware I had relations."

"Well," Onyx pointed at the two robots, "there they are! A brother and a sister! Mozel tov!"

"Where have you been?" Conner asked.

"Monitor duty on the Watchtower," Tornado stated walking to the androids, "when it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate, but your Zetatubes were also offline. I teleported to Providence and proceeded here."

A shaking came from the wall and Sphere hopped out. "Hey boy," Superboy greeted.

Artemis grunted as the laser shot off, making her step back to deal with the sudden kick.

"The pulse has worn off!" Nightmare, KF, and Robin exclaimed in unison.

Tornado stood up from where he was looking at the other two androids and flew up into the air. Two cyclones formed around his arms, sucking in the air around the room.

Onyx grabbed his throat as the air was suddenly sucked from his lungs, he could see that M'gann, Kaldur, KF, and SB had already passed out. Robin was on all fours before he collapsed.

"Can't breathe," Artemis gasped before she fainted.

Even with black creeping on his vision, the hybrid glared up at Tornado. **"Traitor,"** he hissed before his eyes rolled back and he passed out again.

-.-

"Onyx."

"Onyx."

"Onyx wake up."

Groaning, he opened his eyes to see Wonder Woman kneeling over him. Seeing he was awake, his mentor smiled and helped him up, only for the teen to hold his head as the room spun. **"Geez, feels like I got hit by an ankylosaur again,"** he grumbled as the Amazon steadied him. Looking next to him he saw Artemis also got up and the others were already conscious and had their mentors checking them over for injuries.

"What happened here?" Superman asked.

"What happened?! The Reds happened! Tornado and his siblings!" Artemis exclaimed angrily.

"Speaking of which, where is that traitor and his siblings?" Onyx growled.

"Gone, all three of them, gone," Robin sighed.


	16. Law of the Jungle

Chapter 15

**A/N: once again, my OCs are the only thing in here I own.**

**/comm/**

**_Telepathy/flashback_**

**"****Raptor"**

**India: September 10**

"Indian Tiger print boys. I told ya Hamilton Hill didn't need any superstitious guide to lead us to big game. Devil beasts, ha!"

The hunting party began moving and came to a ridge where they saw the tiger up in a tree. Hill took aim, as the tiger jumped down from the tree, only for thee pylons to emerge from the ground, causing the animal to roar then collapse.

"What is that?"

"Who cares, I just made my quota," the leader scoffed.

Grunting sounded behind them, and the three turned around to see a gorilla with a machine gun glaring at them.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: September 23, 6:34EDT**

The team sat quietly in the training room, and Green Arrow walked over with a bowl of pretzels, putting them in front of Kid Flash and Nightmare.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Wally muttered.

"Yeah, we want answers for Red Tornado and his siblings," Robin agreed.

Green Arrow went to grab the bowl when Wally grabbed it. "Leave the bowl," he said as he started eating.

Sighing the archer hung back and looked at Canary and Diana then back at the teenager stealing Wally's pretzels as the women talked quietly. "Talk to him," Dinah whispered.

"Perhaps it would be best to wait for a bit?" she replied. "He should at least recover from this situation first."

"Diana, I think—"

"YOU KNEW!"

All heads snapped towards one corner of the room, where Superboy had Aqualad pinned to the wall.

"That android and his maniac family, nearly killed M'gann!" he exclaimed.

"Conner! What are you doing?!" Miss M exclaimed flying over.

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor on the team and said nothing!"

"You knew!" Artemis growled.

"And didn't tell us?" Wally snarled.

"I sought to protect the team from—" Kladur began.

"Protect us from what?" Artemis interrupted. "Knowledge that may've saved our lives?!"

Onyx shrunk back, feeling guilty for not saying anything and not taking a share of the blame.

"You almost died!" Conner said to Miss Martian.

"Enough," Batman said ending the argument. "With Red Tornado…missing, the Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take first shift."

"I'm really looking forwards to hanging with you guys," he said.

"After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna—" Superboy began threatening.

"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League, that makes him a League responsibility, you will leave him to us," Batman interrupted. "I have another assignment for this team."

A hologram appeared of a newspaper article. "Gotham mayor attacked by guerilla gorilla," Wally scoffed.

_"__Was this the only thing he could find to distract us?"_ Conner snorted over the telepathic link.

"Batman please tell me you're not sending us on some wild ape chase!" Robin snapped.

"I never joke about a mission," Batman said and all the teens felt small suddenly. "I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns, Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."

"Your team," Wally snorted as they made their way towards the hangar.

"I'll catch up, I need to get my stuff," Onyx said jogging off. Going to his room he grabbed the belt attaching his lasso to his hip and grabbed the collapsible staff he took from Taipei before walking out and bumping into Wonder Woman. "Oh…hi Diana."

"Hello Onyx, are you doing well?"

"Yeah, as well as I can given the circumstances," he said shifting from foot to foot and looking anywhere else but at his hero. "Look, I'd love to talk but I have a mission…"

"Right, of course, we can talk later. There is something I wish to discuss with you," she said waving at the kid as he ran off.

Onyx raced into the Bioship, finding it to be uncomfortably quiet. Not wanting to disturb the silence, he quickly crept to his seat, and sat down. Glancing around he saw Captain Marvel sitting with them, and he shot a questioning glance to Robin.

"Doesn't trust us" he mouthed to him, and he looked down, still feeling guilty. He knew about the mole too, so why was Kaldur getting all the blame?

And why did he let it just happen?

-.-

**India: September 23, 21:36**

The Bioship flew over a clearing, allowing Nightmare, Robin, and Artemis to drop in by cable and scout the area as the ship landed.

"All clear," Robin said as they came back.

"Switch to stealth, and we'll review mission parameters," Aqualad ordered.

"Parameters? We don't need no stinkin' parameters," KF snapped.

"It's recon, we know what to do," Robin stated.

"Kid, Robin."

"The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets!" Robin snarled.

"Or did you forget about that just like you forgot to tell us about the mole," Wally added, grabbing his goggles and lowering them over his head as they took off.

"C'mon," Conner said grabbing M'gann's arm, "I'll keep you safe!"

_"__You're my boyfriend Conner, not my keeper,"_ M'gann said crossing her arms, "_stop behaving like a character from a seventies sitcom."_

"I just…wanna protect you," he stuttered in surprise.

"Like Aqualad protected us, I'm not sure your protection or your patronizing is good for our health," Artemis snapped as she and M'gann turned to walk off. Artemis stopped and looked back at the group. "Nightmare, you coming?"

"I-I'm sure you two have it handled, I…I'd just get in the way," he stuttered and looked down, his tail lowering to the ground.

Artemis blinked in surprise before she turned and joined M'gann, the two girls soon disappearing into the jungle.

"Why didn't you stop them?! You're supposed to be in charge!" Superboy snapped.

"I am—" Kaldur began before Conner just waved him off and jumped off in another direction.

"Um, did I miss the part where you actually said what the plan was?" Captain Marvel asked and Aqualad just sighed leading the Leaguer and his remaining teammate off in another direction.

-.-

"What do you think he meant in that 'I'd just get in your way'?" Artemis questioned as she and Miss M made their way along a riverbank.

"I don't know, reading Nightmare has never been easy for me," M'gann shrugged. "However, I think he feels bad about something, I felt guilt rolling off him."

"You don't think he was the mole do you?!" Artemis growled worried about what that might imply.

"What? No, he barely even knows how to work a microwave, let alone transport information to someone else," Miss M said.

"He hacked the cave to turn off the motion and heat sensors," Artemis pointed out.

"True, but think about it, we've seen those other hybrids all over the place and he knew nothing about them," the Martian girl pointed out, "…What if he knew about the mole too, he was with Kladur on the Taipei mission."

"We could ask," Artemis said.

Neither one of them noticed the shadow swimming in the water.

-.-

Robin and Kid Flash walked through the jungle silently, still fuming about what happened earlier.

Neither boy bothered to look up at the large shadows passing overhead.

-.-

Superboy slammed his way through the forest, his landings making craters as he noisily traveled through the quiet jungle.

He couldn't hear the sound of paws hitting the ground behind him.

-.-

Onyx knelt down and examined the tracks left on the ground as Captain Marvel landed next to him. "Guess this is where Mayor Hills' monkey business went down," he said. "So we've at least confirmed his story."

"No kidding," Nightmare muttered sniffing the air. All the scents were long gone, so there was no telling where the gorilla went.

_"__Hey Onyx?"_

The hybrid almost yelped in surprise, but managed to contain himself. _"Uh…M'gann?"_

_"__And Artemis, we have a question."_

_"__Oh, uh…ok, well shoot,"_ he said.

_"__Did you know about the mole?"_ Artemis asked bluntly.

Onyx quietly whined and his shoulders and tail sagged involuntarily. _"Yeah, I was there when Kaldur was tipped off, he told me not to tell. I'm so, so sorry. I should've said something. I didn't mean to cause trouble."_

There was silence from the other end of the conversation and it cut off, leaving him both relieved to get it off his chest, but now more ashamed for his own stupidity. They tipped the mole off anyways right? Red Tornado left as soon as they told him, then low-and-behold, the cave was under attack.

A rustling in the jungle pulled him out of his thoughts, and he mentally kicked himself, the last place you wanted to get lost in thought was in the middle of unknown territory, Titania kicked that into his brain since he was a hatchling.

Shoving his previous troubles to the side for later, he sniffed the air, catching three strong scents rolling their way, and since there was no wind, that meant they were coming closer. Looking down he saw the rocks trembling, meaning that whatever was coming was big.

As if on cue, a massive elephant burst from the trees, slamming right into Capitan Marvel, using its trunk to toss him aside. Two more came out of the trees and glared down at the remaining two.

Onyx smiled, and here he was expecting an actual problem, sure the trunks and tusks would be an issue, as would the stomping feet, but compared to other things he's faced, it was far too simple. He'd killed ones with much more fur before.

One charged and Nightmare shoved Kaldur aside, before he rolled back to his feet and analyzed his prey. Its skin was thick, about normal dinosaur thickness of the larger ones, with already pre-existing tears in the flesh making it easier to sever muscle, not to mention one had a tear right in the gut, a favorite place for a raptor to strike.

The elephant charged again, and this time, Nightmare jumped up and dug his claws into the flesh of its trunk right on the tear. He ran along the beast's back before digging his claws in again on the leg and sliding down, hopefully tearing through the muscle and not just skin.

-.-

Superboy ducked as the first wolf jumped, punching it aside two more jumped out and the one he hit got up. Tossing one into the other, another bit down on his shoulder, before he tossed it over onto another wolf. Up on a ledge a white wolf sat waiting to join the fray.

-.-

Robin and Wally slammed themselves to the ground as a massive vulture swooped down and tried to grab them, getting to their feet, Robin tossed a few of his explosives at them. "I thought vultures only ate dead meat!"

"Well, these are some very proactive scavengers!" Wally commented.

"Proactive and supersized, thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Kobra-Venom? Yep."

-.-

A supersized crocodile shot out of the water, attempting to catch the Martian girl in its jaws as she used her strength to hold it back.

Seeing her partner's predicament Artemis notched an arrow, when another one came out and grabbed her by her quiver before yanking her back underwater where it began toing the death roll.

M'gann dove down and snapped the strap holding Artemis down, allowing her to swim to the surface as she used a telekinetic blast to knock the croc back.

Flying up Artemis coughed on the shore. "Ok, almost drowning two nights in a row, way less fun than it sounds," the blonde coughed.

-.-

Nightmare grunted as the other elephant slammed him off, hitting a tree he gave a screech that made most humans shiver in fear. He probably broke something, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd broken a bone on a hunt. Captain Marvel flew over and slammed the offending elephant aside when another hit him with its trunk.

Kladur looked up to see the flashing inhibitor collar, summoning his water whips, he rolled under the placoderm's feet, swinging the whip up where it wrapped around the collar and then slamming his arm down, yanking the infernal thing off. It immediately calmed down and started walking away.

"Remove the collar!" Kalder called to his teammates.

"On it," Captain said flying up and yanking it off.

**"****They just had to make it look easy,"** he hissed, jumping and digging his claws back in. Crawling up onto the thrashing animal's back he grabbed the black collar and pulled with all his strength, breaking it off. Jumping off he watched as it turned and walked away, leaving him still hungry. **"…I couldn't have eaten all of it anyway."**

"Pretty sweet how you figured out the collar was the problem," Capitan praised.

"But the collars indicate an intelligence behind this attack, the rest of the team may also be at risk," Aqualad replied activating his comm. "Team come in…" He winced as a sharp beep erupted in his ear. "Comm's dead. And Miss Martian failed to establish a telepathic link before everyone split up."

"Actually, you let everyone split up before communications were set," Captian Marvel stated.

"They would not listen!"

"Then you make them listen, back in the pack if you didn't listen to the alpha, then the alpha kicked your ass," Onyx stated. "Trust me, I've got the scars to prove it."

"I am not going to attack my teammates," Aqualad said.

"Hey, it got us to listen," he shrugged.

"He has a point, back at the cave, Batman stopped everyone from fighting with one word," Captain Marvel pointed out.

"Because Batman is…Batman."

"Hey, you don't have to tell me, when I first joined the League all he did was boss me around and it's hard not to take it personally. But, I never disobeyed an order, and that's probably what kept me alive."

"A leader takes command Kaldur, for the good of the pack, or League in Batman's case," Onyx said.

"Thank you for helping me understand."

"Hey Wisdom of Solomon," Marvel smirked.

Nightmare shrugged. "Experience."

_"__Aqualad can you hear me?"_ Miss Martian asked.

_"__Yes Miss Martian. Report."_

_"__Artemis and I were attacked by animals wearing inhibitor collars, like those used at Belle Reve prison."_

Onyx heard something a turned around, looking through the grass he spotted orange with black stripes, a tiger, hidden in the grass.

Apparently Captain Marvel saw it too. "Cool! The tiger! I'll be right back!" he exclaimed flying after it.

"Cap wait!" Onyx said only for the Leaguer to ignore him.

"Hey, Speed of Mercury," Kaldur huffed following behind as his teammate started tracking his scent.

-.-

Cap flew after the tiger till it suddenly came to a stop, growling at him. "Hey there mister, why don't you let good ol' Cap take off that nasty collar for you?" he spoke gently, trying not to either scare it or trigger it to attack as he slowly approached. Landing in front of it, he tried to appear less intimidating as it backed away.

Three pylons rose from the ground, and Captain Marvel collapsed finding himself unable to move.

Hearing a feminine chuckle, he looked up to find a girl with teal wings suddenly appear right in front of him. "Well looky here, I have to say, you were not the animal we were expecting to catch tonight," she grinned darkly as a boy with a spiked tail walked up beside her. "However, our boss will most certainly be pleased, A1 or not."

-.-

_"__Miss Martian, I need a telepathic link up with the entire team, now,"_ Kaldur ordered.

_"__Link established."_

_"__Should you really be giving us orders? And should you really be fallowing them?"_ Artemis said right away.

_"__Listen please."_

_"__Oh good, Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that,"_ KF said sarcastically.

_"__Hey Kaldur! KF and I were attacked by giant vultures, but since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves,"_ Robin stated.

_"__If he did, he wouldn't tell you, he'd just order you to shut up and keep your head down,"_ Artemis quipped.

_"__Superboy are you online or just pouting?" _M'gann asked.

_"__Busy, call back later."_

_"__What gets me is about nonchalant he is about not telling us,"_ Wally growled.

_"__He should be chalant, way chalant."_

_"__How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?"_

Aqualad followed Nightmare as he tracked Captain Marvel's scent, moving out of the bushes they found three pylons sticking out of the ground. And he caught several strong scents that were familiar in some ways, but otherwise foreign in every aspect.

_"__Or if Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves,"_ M'gann added.

_"__Did you really think you or I could've been the mole?"_ KF asked Robin.

_"__We've known each other for years!"_

_"__Trust is a two-way street!"_

_"__And you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them!"_

_"__Or force someone else to keep a secret they didn't want to keep! Not that we'd do that."_

_"__Never."_

**"****CAN YOU ALL PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP FOR ONE MINUTE!" **Nightmare screeched, his call echoing through the jungle. Going to one of the pylons he grabbed it and ripped it down, silencing the infernal high pitch hum that had been steadily ringing in his ears since the Captain vanished before nodding lightly to Kaldur.

_"__Captain Marvel has been captured,"_ he said breaking the stunned silence, _"And we must act as a team to save him."_

_"__Under your leadership?"_ Kid scoffed. _"I don't think—"_

_"__This is not up for debate,"_ Aqualad snapped. _"You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader I will gladly step aside. But until that time I am in command here."_

-.-

"He's awake," a sing-song voice chirped as Captain Marvel opened his eyes. Looking above him he saw the girl grinning down at him her green eyes glimmering in the light.

"Why can't I move?" he asked.

"It is obvious, no?" a robotic voice inquired. "Your collar is set to inhibit le movement from the neck down. I have allowed you to retain the power of speech as your reactions may prove instructive during la procedure."

"La procedure? What procedure?!"

"I have often pondered the effect of your powers on the cerebral cortex. I long to see de Wisdom of Solomon up close. Monsieur Mallah, prepare for surgery. B2, B3, you are free to go," the voice said.

"Have fun," the winged girl said flying off, laughing as she left.

-.-

"The scent trail leads here," Nightmare whispered as they crouched down on a ledge overlooking a hidden complex. They looked up as they heard the sounds of engines and watched to see a plane lift off.

_"__Think that has the Captain?"_ Robin asked.

Superboy switched to thermal vision. _"No…there's two…they have wings and tails…"_

_"__It's the others,"_ Onyx growled, his tail thrashing angrily.

_"__They're not our priority right now, we need to find Captain Marvel, odds are he's still in the facility,"_ Aqualad stated placing his hand on the angry hybrid's shoulder.

_"__I'll fly over,"_ Miss Martian said.

_"__Negatory, the field extends like a dome over the whole complex," _KF stated.

Robin looked over his scans. _"The pylons are insulated, but one good shock could cause a momentary gap."_

_"__I see a target."_

_"__Then be ready to hit it,"_ Kaldur said. _"Be ready, all of you." _He jumped off the ledge and ran to the edge of the pylon circle. His tattoos began glowing and he stuck his hands into the field, forcing a small opening to form.

_"__Now!" _Wally exclaimed and Artemis fired the arrow, where it pressed a button inside the field and it dropped.

They all rushed down to join their leader when a monkey screeched from the top of the complex and alarms started going off as more baboons rushed at them.

The screeching monkeys quickly tackled everyone, except Nightmare, leaving a wide berth around the hybrid. Growling he lunged and tackled one of the two Robin was fighting off.

"Remove the collars!" Aqualad called.

**"****Stay still!"** Onyx snarled as the furry mammal flailed under him another one tackled him from the side and he rolled on top. Biting down on the collar before ripping it off and spitting the pieces of metal and fur out where there should've been flesh. "**Nasty."**

Spitting out another fur ball, the baboon took his distraction as a chance to run, as the original one he got tackled him again. An arrow bounced of the collar knocking it off and sending the monkey running off into the jungle.

The complex door opened and a gorilla wearing a beret and a machine gun strolled out with a growl. He suddenly whipped around and grabbed something slamming it to the ground, where M'gann returned to visibility. He turned his gun on her and they began charging.

"Get your paws off her you dirty ape!" Wally snarled ramming himself into its belly only from him to be bounced back.

Onyx hissed and watched as Kaldur ran up and attempted to slice at him using his swords, creeping to the side, he jumped at him from the side, digging his claws in as he slid around. The gorilla roared in pain and swung out his fist, slamming they hybrid into the concrete wall making him cry out as whatever bone he broke earlier gave a stab of agony, before aiming his gun at him.

Getting up, M'gann picked Mullah up telekinetically and hurled him through the wall, allowing them all to run inside where they saw Captian Marvel strapped to a table and a brain in a moving box-robot…whatever.

"It's the Brain!" KF exclaimed.

"I can see it's a Brain," Artemis scoffed.

"Not a brain! The Brain!"

"In the flesh, so to speak. Mallah."

The gorilla pulled out a remote and pylons rose from the ground, making them all instantly drop.

_"__Miss Martian, Superboy, now."_

M'gann's eyes glowed and she yanked the remote over, where she turned off the pylons.

The wall behind the gorilla burst inward and Superboy stood there with a white wolf cracking his knuckles. The wolf charged and jumped off Mallah, slamming him to the ground. As he got up, Wally barreled into him, making him stumble back as Robin swung over, kicking him in the face. Miss Martian levitated him up and slammed him to the ground, as he got up Superboy tried to punch him back, but he jumped back, firing the gun. Nightmare jumped in front of wolf with Conner, both bulletproof members defending their new ally, an arrow hit the side of the canister, blowing up and disabling it. Onyx then jumped and spun in the air, using his tail to slam the ape down next to the Brain.

"Thanks," Capitan said as Kaldur removed the collar restraining him. hopping off the table he knelt by the tiger. "Now one good favor deserves another." Ripping the collar off they joined the team surrounding the Brain.

Mallah roared at Conner, Wolf and Nightmare, two of which just growled back. "Try it, we all hate monkeys here," Superboy smirked.

"No Mallah, this will not be our Waterloo," the Brain said as a large device began to unfold from his robot. "Au revoir, mes amis."

"Get down!"

Everyone ducked as they expected a big explosion…but the lights just all went out. When they came back on both were gone.

"Wait…that big weapon thingy was…a light switch?" Nightmare asked holding his side and spitting out some blood.

"A little overdone if you ask me," KF said.

"Yep."

-.-

"What are you grinning about?" Artemis asked as she and Kid Flash walked back to the ship.

The speedster grinned and put on the red beret. "One word: souvenir."

"Two words: gorilla lice," she replied.

"Aw man!" he said yanking it off.

"Food!" Onyx exclaimed popping out from the bushes carrying an antelope on his shoulders.

"When did you have time to grab that?"

"While everyone else was removing the collars, those animals avoid me like the plague," he said. "Besides, I haven't eaten real food in a little while."

Joining them, the three walked over to where Superboy was petting the wolf. "The rest of the pack is gone, what are you still doing here?" he asked.

"Looks like he likes you as a better alpha than those in his pack, beat him in a fight?" Onyx asked.

"Yeah," Conner said, "how did you…?"

"I grew up in a velociraptor pack, not too different from wolves…I think," he said as the wolf looked at the kill slung over his shoulder. "No! This is mine!"

The wolf tackled him and both hunters rolled off fighting over the food.

"Can I keep him?" Conner asked.

"First Nightmare, then the sphere, now that beast," Wally laughed, "Dude you're making quite a habit of picking up strays."

"Maybe because he's such a stray himself," Miss Martian smiled.

**"****If you want one so badly go hunt your own!"** Nightmare exclaimed holding the massive canine in a choke hold as he restrained it from grabbing his kill.

"Well, he's gonna need a name, how about Krypto?" Wally suggested and the wolf growled at him.

Using his distraction to his advantage, Onyx jumped off grabbed the gazelle and crawled up a tree with it.

"Pass."

"Besides, isn't that name taken?" Artemis asked as they watched the wolf attempt to grab the swinging hybrid's tail.

**"****If I give you a leg, will you let me have the rest?"**

The wolf's tongue rolled out as he ripped the limb off and tossed it next to Wally, making him scream girlishly as the massive dog jumped over him. "I hate you so much right now!" KF snapped as their teammate hopped down from the tree with the rest of the deer as they walked back to the ship.

"Look I need to know, why did you keep the mole intel a secret?" Robin asked.

They all stopped and looked at Kaldur. "The tip was from Sportsmaster," he spoke up.

"What?! You can't trust him!" Artemis exclaimed.

"I do not, it seemed possible, even likely he was attempting to divide the team with false information."

"And given how this mission went he almost succeeded," KF sighed.

"But you had to consider it might be true," Robin added.

"Yes, as leader I did, in which case I did not want to alert the traitor," Aqualad stated.

"Hate to say it but…makes sense."

"I am still prepared to step down."

"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Onyx asked raising a hand and the others joined him.

"Guess its unanimous," Capitain said patting Aqualad on the shoulder. "See you guys tomorrow."

"You're not coming with us?"

"Nope, gotta fly," he said taking off.

"So what are you gonna call him?" Onyx asked rubbing the wolf's ears.

"What's wrong with Wolf?" Conner asked.

"Generic, but acceptable," Wally said as they entered the ship.

Instead of taking his seat, Onyx flopped down on the floor with Wolf, both tearing into their meals.

"How can you just eat that?" Artemis asked scrunching her nose in disgust.

"It's fresh meat, better than that frozen stuff you guys buy at the store and leave in the freezer for weeks at a time," he snorted crinkling his nose back at her. "If you're so bothered by it, you can watch the world pass outside these lovely windows."

"Can you eat that all before we get back to base?" Robin asked.

Nightmare shrugged. "I've never tried, but probably, I've eaten a whole galamimus before."

"Do it, do it, do it!" the boys chanted as the girls just groaned.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: September 24, 20:48EDT**

Onyx quickly peered his head out of the Bioship with Wolf, the others were giving the report, they had to clean the ship, dispose of the remains, and then clean themselves off before getting caught by A: Batman, who would accuse them of murder or B: Black Canary, who would believe they were hurt and then fuss over them before accusing them for murder, though the ache from his side told him that the injury excuse could work. There was also option C: Wonder Woman, who would probably praise him for winning, then kick his ass for possibly committing murder.

Going to the sea entrance of the base, he began cleaning the deer bones in the water, he gave them to Wolf who started happily chewing on them as he rinsed the blood out of his fur.

Once the canine was all white again, he dove in and cleaned his own face and claws, before climbing out before they attracted sharks, or worse.

"Hey Onyx, is the ship all clean?" M'gann asked flying in.

"Yep, sorry for the mess," he said nervously smiling as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Its fine, just a part of who you are right?" she smiled. "Though it was a little scary when you and Wolf started fighting over the last leg."

"Sorry."

"Now what did I…oh! Batman and Black Canary want to talk to you!" she exclaimed remembering why she came down there. The hybrid's face instantly drained of blood and she put on a reassuring smile. "I'm pretty sure it's nothing bad."

"Hopefully, if things don't go well I hope you all dress up as grim reapers for my funeral," he said walking towards what was most likely certain death.

Entering the training room he was surprised to find it empty save for Black Canary standing in the middle.

"Uh…h-hi Black Canary," he stuttered, his tail flicking nervously.

She laughed lightly seeing the soaking wet teenager looking like he got caught trying to sneak out. "Why do you look so scared?"

"So…I'm not in trouble?" he asked biting his lip.

Canary laughed. "No, why would you think that?"

"Uh…well, M'gann said you and Batman wanted to talk to me and…"

"Ah, I know Bats can be scary but he's really a big softie once you get to know him," she said leading him down the hall.

"Somehow I find that hard to believe."

They walked towards a room, and she opened the door, showing what appeared to be another living room, except it lacked a TV, having a bookshelf in its place. Batman stood in the room next to a rather irritated Wonder Woman, whom seemed to be discussing something intensely.

"A'hem," Canary cleared her throat, letting both know they had arrived.

"Why am I here?"

"Onyx, ever since you arrived here I have been doing research to find your origins," Batman stated making the teen blink in surprise.

"…And you found something?" he asked; they could all hear a slight mix of excitement and hope in his voice.

Batman nodded. "Dr. Wu cloned you, using DNA from one of his velociraptor samples, an unknown sample, and a sample which was illegally obtained."

He visibly deflated. "Oh…so I don't really have any family to find?" he whispered, his tail sinking against the ground.

"I wouldn't say that," Wonder Woman said gently making Nightmare look up at her in confusion.

"Dr. Wu is very particular about what kinds of samples he uses, which left me with a small pool to look from. We brought you here to meet your human mother."

Nightmare's head shot up and he looked between the three adults, before looking at all three heroes in confusion. "So…uh…what?"

Canary smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "We don't expect you to wrap your head around this right away, especially with everything that's happened the past two days, this is a big shock for you," she said.

"It's fine. I-I just…wasn't expecting this," he said, "at all. I didn't think you'd look into my DNA just to…just to find where I came from." He smiled lightly. "Even if it's only half my genetic code."

Onyx watched his mentor's face soften as she wrapped an arm around him. "Everyone needs to know their family, or at least have one. And it seems the fates chose to lead me to you my little hunter."

**A/N: hey guys! back for another chapter! Hope y'all're happy with who our favorite hybrid's mother is, as for his father...you'll have to wait and see. ;) Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed the chapter, and I'd love to hear ya'll's thoughts and reviews! See y'all next time!**


	17. News to Process

Chapter 16

**A/N: alright, once again, I just own the hybrid OCs in this story and the story itself.**

**"****Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy._**

**/comm****_/_**

**D.C: September 24, 21:45EDT**

"Welcome home," Diana said leading the teen into the Themiscyrian Embassy.

"Wow, your nest is so big, is it just you that lives here?" he said looking around holding his bear close.

"Well, there's also security and my sisters who chose to accompany me," she smiled. "First, we should get your room all set up, then Aria could take your measurements for clothes, and I'll need to show you my home and take you to meet your grandmother. We should also do tests for school."

"Wait, I thought this was your home?" he questioned.

"This is where I live currently, I'm from the island of Themiscyra, the home of the Amazons. My mother is Queen Hippolyta, making me the princess and by extent you a prince."

"Really?!" he exclaimed jumping onto the couch.

"Yes, now get off the back of the couch before you break it."

He quickly climbed off, shifting from foot to foot nervously. "Sorry."

"It's alright," she smiled ruffling his hair. "Now, as I'm sure you remember from my stories, the Amazons are a tribe of warrior woman, no men."

"So…odds are they won't like me."

"Possibly not, but if that's the case I'll make them," she reassured.

"Diana…oh, hi Onyx?" a woman in a greek dress greeted looking confused as her sister's protégé stood behind Diana in a set of sweats.

"Iris, this is my son Onyx," Diana said with a wide smile as the other Amazon seemed to be taking a moment to process what she heard.

"Uh…wait, I thought he was just your protégé?"

"He was, but Batman ran some tests, he's like Superboy."

"Ah…the Queen won't be happy about this."

Diana shrugged, "Doesn't matter, she'll just need to accept this."

Iris nodded, pursing her lips. She wanted to argue about this, but at the same time, _Diana, Daughter of Zeus _would not be too welcome, especially with how proud she'd been of her young sidekick over the past few weeks. "I'll…I'll got get a room ready," she excused herself backing out of the room.

"Now, what do you want for dinner?" Diana asked walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge, ignoring the confused glances between her sisters whom also worked in the embassy. "We could have some chicken alfredo, there's pizza, I have some spaghetti, if you want I can run to a nearby deli and pick up some sandwiches for us?"

"Um…I guess the chicken thing?" he shrugged watching as Diana walked over to the pantry. "Now, we need to figure out some sides: I have green beans, I could make us a salad, I think I have some fruit."

Walking over he peered over her shoulder and his tail dropped, it was all canned plants. "Does it have to be a plant?" he whined and she glanced back at him.

"How about some French Bread?"

He nodded, he liked bread.

"Do you want to help me cook?"

Onyx tilted his head. "Uh…Sure, I guess? What do I do?"

"Alright, take this bread, and slice it up. And pull out the garlic butter from the fridge, I'll make the alfredo."

Nodding he took the bread and sliced open the plastic package with his claw. Setting it down he went to the fridge and looked in for the butter. Biting his lip, he nervously tapped a claw against the door, which was the garlic butter? What did it look like? Maybe he should've payed more attention to M'gann when she was rambling on about cooking.

Finding a yellow tub labeled _I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!_ he pulled it out praying it was right. He really didn't want to mess up on his first night.

Setting the tub down, he picked up the knife like M'gann would when she was in the kitchen and started cutting the bread horizontally, before applying the butter to one side. That's how it was done right?

"Good job," Diana smiled, chuckling to herself as he yelped in surprise, his hair fluffing up before lowering as her apparent son's golden eyes met hers.

"Did I do it right?"

"While you didn't get the garlic butter, it's still good, we can have garlic bread another night," she said. "Besides, I don't want to introduce you to too many spices at once, remember the last few times?"

Onyx grimaced, last few times the food had too many spices or things he wasn't used to, he spent a lot of time afterwards hunched over the toilet heaving.

"Why don't you go chill out on the couch and find something for us to watch? Dinner will be ready soon."

Nodding, he left the room and got onto the grey couch, curling up in one of the corners and burying himself under the blanket with his bear. Finding the remote, he turned on the TV and tapped his tail against the cushions. What should he put on? Should he put on something he liked or would he get in trouble? What did Diana like? Did they share the same tastes? What about the other Amazons? What did they like?

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he tossed on _The Emperor's New Groove, _that seemed like a safe bet. At least he hoped it was.

In the kitchen Diana started filling the plates, Onyx would probably need more meat than anything considering his previous diet. Tornado informed her that during his stay at the Cave his appetite seemed to be growing and he had started handling other foods better than his duration in the infirmary. Hopefully he wouldn't eat too much dinner though, she still had to introduce her child to ice cream.

Speaking of which, did she buy any? Going to the fridge, she opened the freezer and looked around, surely she wasn't out already? She just bought some last week, at least she thought she did. Unless…her sisters, she would kick their butts later.

Hearing her phone ring, she went over and picked it up, looking at the contact ID she answered. "What's going on Clark? Is there an emergency?"

/No…you do remember, right?/

"Remember what?"

She heard a sigh on the other end of the line. /Our dinner plans? Bruce and I were coming over to talk about our current situation?/

"Oh, sorry, I forgot, but in case you forgot Clark I've had more important things on my mind," she apologized. "You're more than welcome to come over and join us, I just finished making chicken alfredo."

/Us?/

"Onyx?"

/Oh, right…are you sure about this? He's a clone, we don't know what his motives are. For all we know he could be a spy/

Diana nearly crushed the phone in her hand, "Clark, I found him alone on an island with no human contact in years and if you say one word about it while over here, I promise you won't be able to sit for a week because I'll have beaten your ass so badly."

/Ok, ok, I'm on my way!/

"Oh! And pick up ice cream! Mint-Chocolate Chip!"

/…Fine/

Hanging up, she put her phone down and took a breath to calm herself down. Onyx didn't need to see her like this, he was jumpy as it was from the bastards who kept him in that damn lab. She put on a smile and picked up the plates, walking into the living room. It took her a minute to spot her son, curled up like a cat under a thick, fluffy blanket with his head resting on the fuzzy bear.

"Dinner," she said cheerily holding out the plate.

His head popped up, and he scrambled into a sitting position, his tail nearly assassinating a lamp in the process. "Thanks," he smiled nervously as she sat down next to him, gently moving his long tail aside.

"So we're going to have guests soon—"

"What?! When? Who is it? Where do I need to hide?" Onyx began before Diana covered his mouth stopping the flow of frantic questions as he froze.

"It's Batman and Superman," she stated ruffling the top of his head. "So you don't need to hide out."

"Oh," he blushed quickly taking a bite of the chicken.

There was a knock on the door, before a big guy that looked just like Conner strolled in wearing a blue unitard with a red cape; in his hands there was a tub of…Onyx didn't know what, but from what he could see from peering over the couch it was green.

Behind the Blue Boy Scout, he could make out the familiar forms of Batman and Robin, the latter of which seemed to be protesting intently about something.

"Did you get the ice cream Clark?" Diana called continuing to watch the movie.

"Yes. I got your stupid ice cream."

"It is an achievement worthy of the gods! How dare you not appreciate it! I should throw you out!" she said standing up and pointing her fork at him, as several of her sisters looked like they had been personally insulted by the Man of Steel.

"But you're not going to?"

"Well, I want to make sure you don't leave with the ice cream. Dinner's in the kitchen, help yourselves," Diana stated sitting back down. Looking to her son she smiled as she saw him fumbling to get the noodles on his fork. "Like this," raising her fork, she wrapped the noodles around it and he made a small "o" with his mouth as he seemed to grasp the concept.

Mimicking his mother's actions, Onyx's tail wagged as he finally got the noodles onto his fork, grateful he didn't have to look like an idiot again unlike last time they ate noodles back at the Cave. And oh God, the food was amazing; he hardly noticed Clark and Batman walk in and sit on the other seat in the room the former eying him warily as he continued to eat.

Maybe if he was good enough, he could get a second helping? Caretaker used to always give him good food when he behaved, and if he was really good he got seconds.

"Hey Night! So what do you think?" Robin asked plopping next to him with a plate.

"Hmm?"

"Of the food?"

"It's really good," he said.

"Anyways, later this week there's this sick new movie coming out, you want to join Wally and I?"

"Robin, in case you forgot," Onyx corrected pointing to his cheek showing the patch of scales and smacking the smaller boy's arm with his tail, "hybrid."

"Zatara informed me earlier that your glamor charm is almost complete," Batman commented before he turned back to continue his discussion with Diana and Clark.

"Glamor charm?"

"For secret ID stuff when you don't want to be in the public eye," Robin offered, "So where do you think you'll be going to school? Somewhere here in town, or with Conner and Megan in Happy Harbor? You could also come with me to Gotham Academy, but that depends on your test scores."

He shrugged, "How is school?"

"It sucks, lots of classes, homework, notes and learning, but it can be fun if you do extracurriculars."

"Extracurriculars?" he asked sounding out the word.

"Clubs, sports, those kinds of things. I'm on the Gotham Academy Gymnastics Team and one of their top Mathletes, however, regular high schools have typical sports like football, soccer, baseball, swimming, basketball, track and field, and of course extracurriculars like band, marching band, orchestra, debate, and speech to name a few," Rob explained. "I have a feeling you'd kill at track and field," his eyes widened as the raptor-hybrid paled, "not literally! Just in that all that running and jumping probably made you pretty fast."

"Is that all there is in track? Running and jumping?"

"Well, not exactly, most of the events are running. There's the sprints, the longer events like cross country, there's hurdles with involves running and jumping, relays where you run for a bit then pass a baton to the next person in line, there's discus in which you throw a frisbee, um, what else? Oh, there's pole vaulting, where you run with this super long pole, stick it in the ground and vault yourself over a bar without touching it. And there's also the high jump, it's like the pole vault except you run and jump over the bar. I think there's also the long jump…and I can't think of anything else."

"That's…a lot of running and jumping," Onyx noted.

"You do a lot of that back on the island?"

Nightmare nodded, raptors hardly ever walked anywhere, no, they sprinted; and jumping was a necessary requirement to attack prey and get through the jungle.

"Alright, I want to hear from an expert here. Who would win in a fight, a Spinosaurus or T-Rex? Because I think it would be the Spinosaur because it has those arms and claws, not to mention more teeth. But a friend of mine at school, Barbra—I'll have to introduce you to her sometime—thinks that the T-Rex would win because it has larger jaws and more balance since it doesn't have the huge dorsal fin impairing it movements."

Nightmare snorted. "Spines always win, hands down. I've seen the big one fight a few of the other Rex on the island, and his claws and larger jaws give him the advantage every time. Not to mention the Spine is also bigger and it can swim, so it can ambush the Rex from the river."

"Yes! Thank you!" the Boy Wonder cheered pulling out his phone. "Babs now owes me ten bucks!"

"You're welcome?"

"Robin, put your phone away," Batman scolded not even turning away from the other two adults.

"Texting can wait," he grumbled putting his phone up. "So, Onyx, what was the scariest dino on Isla Sorna? The team has a bet going, but due to the…'mole incident' we didn't get to ask."

"What do you think it was?" Onyx asked, honestly curious.

"Raptors."

He couldn't stop the smile from forming on his face. "Good choice, but no."

"Damn."

"Language!"

"English!" he responded before turning back to Onyx. "So is it the T-Rex like Conner thinks?"

"Close."

"Spino like Wally thinks?"

"It's up there, but no."

"Alright, M'gann and Artemis think it's the Pteranodons."

Onyx scoffed. "Please, the Quetzalcoatlus is much more dangerous than those overgrown turkey. So which one does Kaldur think it is? Or is he staying out of the betting pool?"

"He chose the Mosasaurus."

"Then it looks like Kaldur won. Those things always made me terrified to go into the water, especially since the babies swim up the rivers to eat the amphibious dinosaurs," he shivered. "I've seen a lot of big dinosaurs get eaten by those things. One time, my pack was chasing this juvenile Botinasaura and it ended up at the cliffs. I was the pack's heavy hitter, so I was about jump from my perch in the tree to ambush this thing when I just watched the water explode. These massive blue jaws just clamped down on this animal's tail and dragged it into the water. We started being a lot more careful using the channels after that."

"Channels?"

"To go between the islands? The other parts of my home weren't too far apart, many animals swam between. We only left Sorna if it was a bad season for hunting. Us carnivores drove most of the Cenozoic animals on Sorna to extinction, but they thrived on a few of the other islands. Droughts, storms, or bad nesting seasons in general would make us have to go to the other islands for food."

"Just how many species are there on the Five Deaths?" Clark spoke and the two teens looked at them.

"Um, a lot?" Onyx shrugged. How was he supposed to know the exact number? He didn't even know all the names of the species he saw; and he'd been taught a lot of species.

"Onyx, you said there were animals in the water?" Batman said sounding worried, his brows furrowing as the boy nodded. "How many?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "A lot of them looked the same. Some were dinos, some were mammals, some I only saw when I fell off a cliff."

"You fell off a cliff?"

"Several times, but the only time I fell into the ocean was during a Mosasaur attack. Good news it was too focused on the triceratops to attack me when I climbed out. But to tell the truth there's probably a lot I never saw," he commented looking at Diana. "You're lucky you flew high enough where the Mosasaurs couldn't get you. They ate one of the helicopters when the people left the island."

Diana's eyes widened and she thanked the gods, sometimes when she approached the island she would skim over the ocean's surface, though after watching the river incident she hadn't done it again. Seems she was lucky that none of the aquatic monsters decided she was food.

"Well, if there wasn't a way to contain them then we would've heard about attacks by now," Superman commented. "We'll have to send Aquaman to check the barriers, see if they're still holding. The last thing we want is a plethora of unknown carnivores escaping into the ocean."

"I'll contact him now," Batman said standing up and pulling out a phone.

Meanwhile, Iris quickly strode into the room looking worried, "Diana, you need to see this," she said grabbing the remote.

They all turned to the screen as she tuned into the news station, expecting a report of a robbery, or break in she and Onyx would need to go handle. She'd taken her new protégé to handle a few small things, but nothing big enough to warrant the attentions of the press; and though she hated the idea, he did need to learn how to handle those piranhas. Especially after they announced him as her son.

"I'm Cat Grant reporting with breaking news," the blonde news anchor said sounding grim, "scientists in facilities all along the Pacific Coast, have recorded an earthquake believed to be originating from a fault underwater this morning. As many cities along the coasts brace for possible tsunamis, researchers in Costa Rica have discovered that the seismic activity originated from the infamous island of Isla Nublar where the Jurassic World Tragedy happened three years ago."

Footage of the escaped assets appeared on the screen and Onyx could only stare wide-eyed as he watched the areal animals dive down on panicked people. He could even see the form of a Mosasaur rising from the depths in the background, plucking a Pteranodon from the sky as it held a victim.

"Now we go to James Holden, live," Cat said and the image changed to a man on a helicopter flying over the dark island, a large area of glowing magma glowing in the dark.

"Thanks, Cat, I'm on a helicopter flying over Isla Nublar. As you can see here the island's once dormant volcano is now active once again. Scientists say it started producing magma and smoke as early as last month. However, they can't predict as of yet, when exactly when it will erupt, but they do know that when it does all the life on the island will be wiped out."

The camera zoomed in and they could see the forms of dinosaurs walking in the chopper's lights.

"Politicians around the world are going to be starting the debate we've all wondered about: Do previously extinct species brought back to life by humans through cloning have the same rights as other animals? The answer to this question, will determine if the last dinosaurs on earth will be protected like any other endangered species, or if they'll be left to die. Back to you Cat."


	18. Bonding Time

Chapter 17

**A/N: I just own this story and the hybrid OCs involved. **

**/comm/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy_**

**D.C: September 25, 00:15EDT**

"Onyx?" Diana asked softly knocking lightly on the door to the former-guest-now-turned-to-her-son's bedroom. Opening the door, she felt her shoulders slump as she saw him sitting up, clutching the bear she gave him just a couple months ago. With steady steps, she walked over sitting on the edge of the bed and patting his tail. "There's still ice cream in the freezer, do you want to try it?"

He shook his head, burying his nose into the soft fur of the stuffed toy. Brilliant golden eyes focused on the empty wall.

"…Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" she asked. He'd lost his appetite shortly after the news announcement and had been quiet since. She couldn't blame him if it was in reaction to the news, she'd and the others had been mortified that this was a subject even up for debate. Bruce assured her he'd look into solving the situation before they left, and she had to stop her sisters from almost throwing a riot.

However, there was a chance he was getting overwhelmed by everything. He just adapted to a new environment with the team in the cave before they figured out what Wu had done with her DNA like how Cadmus had used Clark's. Now he was in a completely new area with probably too much for him to process; the news was just probably the final straw. Maybe she should've waited a few days, let him adjust to the revelation slowly before moving him again.

"Onyx, do you want to go back to the cave?" she spoke quietly carefully resting a hand on his back, stopping as he flinched for a moment snapping out of whatever state of dissociation he was experiencing. His eyes met hers and Diana watched the panic bloom in his eyes along with a distinct look of betrayal. Gods, did he think she was kicking him out?

Firmly placing her hands on his shoulders, she made sure to meet his eyes. "Nightmare, it's ok. I'm not kicking you out or anything like that. I just want to know if you need time to adjust. You don't have to leave if you don't want to, alright?"

The teen gulped, nodding slowly, before she asked her question again. He shook his head in response, pulling the long tail closer as he glanced down.

"Was it about how Clark acted?" she questioned, knowing that he was all too aware of the Man of Steel's bias towards clones.

Her son shook his head again, burying his face in the bear, holding it tightly. Reaching her hand up again, Diana slowly placed it on his back, feeling his muscles tensed under the shirt before they slowly uncoiled. He was forcing himself to relax.

Realizing this, she pulled back. Diana didn't want him to feel he had to relax if she initiated contact. Yes, she'd love it if Onyx didn't suppress a flinch each time someone would try to touch his back or arms, but she didn't want him to be uncomfortable. Standing up, she softly walked to the door.

"…Do you think they'll leave them to die?"

Hearing the hesitant question, she stopped and turned to look at him. Her heart broke, she could see the fear in his gaze. Creatures that were cloned just like him were being debated about as if they weren't living creatures, but as the results of an enterprise, _property_.

"I certainly hope not," she confessed sitting at the edge of the bed. "Batman is looking into alternative solutions, see where they can be moved. He's not sure Isla Sorna and the other islands in the chain are big enough."

Just like she suspected, he shook his head. "Taking more herbivores and carnivores to home or any other of the islands would destroy the equilibrium of the food chain. It's rough enough as it is, especially during monsoon season."

"That's what we thought," she sighed.

"I don't suppose you know of anywhere?" he asked almost hesitantly.

"No, but I know Bats will find something," she reassured. "Tell you what, how about to get your mind off this, let's go on patrol and I'll call in sick tomorrow morning? We can hang out all day."

Nightmare perked up, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards into a small smile. Slipping out of bed, he followed her into the "lair" as her sisters liked to call it. Putting on their uniforms, Diana walked to the window, before stopping. Nightmare couldn't fly.

"You wouldn't have happened to have brought your bike?"

"Uh…I think it's still getting repaired after last time I drove it," he confessed fidgeting nervously. "I can run and jump across roof tops?"

"I trust you can keep up?"

He scoffed, looking mildly offended, "You're the one who'll need to keep up," eyes widening, he curled on himself with an embarrassed smile, "well…maybe not, you can fly. I can't."

"I'll accept that challenge," she stated putting her hands on her hips.

The teen's face broke into a slight smirk, "Whoever takes down more bad guys. Winner gets to pick what we watch all day."

"Sounds like a bet," she said flying out the window as he climbed up.

"See you later," he called, jumping up onto the next roof. Running across the rooftops, he found himself at what he assumed was the business area. There were some small jewelry stores, various other shops, and a few banks. Perfect area to find crime.

"My purse!"

Ah, the old cliché. Good way to start off a night of crimefighting.

Running to the far end of the roof, he saw a man running away from a woman holding a baby carrier holding a large bag. The best part was, the thief was running right towards his building.

Walking to the edge he jumped down, grinning as the robber slowed to a stop, staring at the hybrid with wide eyes. "You know, _not_ stealing nice ladies' purses is an option, right?"

The thug threw a punch and Nightmare ducked, using his tail to sweep his legs out from under him. The man grunted as his back slammed into the pavement.

"Dude, if I were you, I'd stay down, cops will be here in like…I dunno, a minute?" he quipped picking up the bag. "Hopefully sooner, my mentor and I made a bet on who would catch more bad guys and I really want to win." Stepping over the thug, Nightmare smiled holding out the bag to the nervous young woman.

"T-Thank you…" she trailed off as alarms rang down the street. A jewelry store robbery. Talk about luck…well…not really.

"Duty calls," he said handcuffing the thug to a bike rack. Sprinting down the street, Onyx had just enough time to turn his body and block the bullets with his tail. Using the momentum of his spin, Nightmare grabbed his lasso, tossing it out and wrapping two of the four robbers up. "What is it with people and cliché crimes tonight?" he questioned, yanking the rope and knocking the dumb duo into one of their partners about to shoot the incoming cop car.

"Don't move! Or I'll shoot!" the last called, aiming the gun right for him.

Slowly raising an eyebrow, Nightmare twisted yanking on the lasso and sending the two friends slamming into their buddy as a shot rang out. The bullet ricocheting off the scales on his arm. Bounding over to the fearsome foursome, he used his lasso to hogtie them.

"You must be the new protégé I've heard about," an officer greeted holding out a hand.

"Yeah, that's me…I think," Nightmare grimaced. To be fair, Miss Martian, Artemis, and Superboy were as new as he was, though, he was the only one wearing the W symbol on his chest.

"You and your mentor did fine work on the Abner Smith Case."

Onyx blushed, that was his first mission with his mentor. They'd been doing training when a call came in about stolen classified intelligence. Once they got to the scene it didn't take long for him to find the perpetrator by following his scent to a small house on the west side of town. Shots were fired, something blew up, but the information was retrieved before the apparent terrorist and extortionist could sell the info to the highest bidder.

Needless to say, Diana was very happy about how their first day went.

"Thanks for catching these fools for us," the man continued.

"Happy to!" he said.

/All units we have a 211A off the corner of 45th and 19th, suspect is considered armed and dangerous/

"What's that mean?" Nightmare questioned.

"Robbery at the bank."

"On it!" he called sprinting down the street. "Hey! Wonder Woman? Where exactly is 45th and 19th?"

/Lost already?/ she teased.

"No, just thought I'd look at a new vantage point."

/Bank robbery?/

"…Maybe."

/Are the suspects armed?/

"And dangerous."

/Alright…from your current location make a right, a left and then another right in two streets/ she informed, /I'll meet you there/

Jumping onto a rooftop, Nightmare followed her directions, cutting over the busy streets and people minding their own business. He could hear an explosion as he got closer, skidding to a stop he gazed down to see the cops aiming their guns at a man in…football gear?

Guess all the good trademarks were taken.

There was a car on fire, probably the source of the explosion he'd heard, several injured people around and inside the building. The football player was armed with a gun and a grenade or two.

Alright, so his first task was to get him away from civilians. Or was it to disarm him? Hopefully it was the latter because that was what he was doing. Untying his lasso, he sprinted across the rooftop and spun in the air, tossing the rope down towards his target below. Landing on the bank's roof, he pulled, hard. The lasso caught something, and Nightmare prayed it was the bad guy.

It would be awkward if he grabbed a cop.

There was a shout and the sound of paper flying as the robber landed on the roof in a wave of green money floating down like confetti. "What are you supposed to be?" the man growled getting to his feet, aiming his gun at him.

"My protégé, Human Tank," Diana said floating down behind him.

Whipping around with a startled cry, the Human Tank began shooting as Wonder Woman used her bracelets to deflect the bullets as Nightmare charged from the side. Easily sliding under the minor villain's outstretched arm, he snatched the grenades off his belt, rolling out of reach before setting them down behind a supply shed. The ground shook and there was a pained grunt. Jumping onto the top of the shed, he smirked seeing his mother standing on the villain.

"Good job handling the situation," she smiled hoisting the Tank onto her shoulder.

"I had a good teacher," he smiled hopping down.

"The grenades."

"Right!" he yelped scrambling back around to grab the weapons as Diana joined him.

"Take him, I'll hold those," she said dropping the man as she took the explosives.

"I'm not going to drop them!"

"Do you want to run down the stairs with them?" she chided raising an eyebrow as he glanced away.

"…No."

"Thought so," Wonder Woman smiled ruffling his hair with her free hand before grabbing the second grenade. Flying down to the ground, Onyx grabbed the villain, tossing him over his shoulder and jumping off the roof, making cracks on the ground during impact.

Letting the cops attach the inhibitor collar, he helped put the bank robber into the cop car, ignoring the persisting calls of the people flashing cameras and holding microphones.

"How many did you get?" Diana whispered putting a hand on his shoulder.

Nightmare stood confidently. "Six, including this guy."

Wonder Woman smiled. "Eight, looks like I win."

-.-

**Unknown Location**

"You called Master?" Rogue said stepping forwards as her team stood at attention behind her.

"Yes. I've been informed that the cover squadron is about to be released."

"I'm guessing our job is to cover them should the Justice League intervene?" Tyrant spoke. "I don't think we're on their level yet."

"Unless…you aren't expecting the League?" Terrorwing commented, her wings twitching.

"No. The Justice League _will_ be preoccupied, that much is assured. And your task is a little more complicated than what you believe it to be. You have all been trained by the best to be the best, and I expect all of you to complete this assignment," the man said and the group glanced between each other in anticipation. "The League will likely send their sidekicks to handle the cover squad."

"Seems easy enough," the stegosaur hybrid grinned.

"I would not be overconfident B2. That is just the lesser part of your task," he informed. "Your primary task: retrieve A1. It's time to bring him back into the Light."


	19. False Front

Chapter 18

**A/N: Remember, I just own this story and the OCs involved. I love hearing y'all's reviews.**

**/comm/**

**T****_elepathy/flashback_**

**"Bold is raptor or other dinosaur language."**

**Metropolis: October 1, 8:08EDT**

A woman walking her pug stopped near the Daily Planet as the ground in front of her began to crack, the small dog yapping at the massive vines slowly unfurling from the concrete. Stumbling back as the plants shoved the concrete back, she landed on her butt, her dog running off as other people screamed.

Several vines unfurled from the central stalk, blooming in large red flowers.

They would've almost been considered pretty had one of the blooms had not dove down, crushing a cop car, and barely missing the two officers who'd gotten out a minute before. It hurled it into the side of a building, the other flower picking up a second car, tossing it down the street.

People started running away as the plant's full body made impact with the ground.

-.-

**Mt. Justice: 13:24EDT**

Robin punched towards Aqualad, gritting his teeth as his older teammate continued to dodge his attacks. Seeing Kaldur swing a punch he handsprung back, letting the Atlantean come to him. throwing his first towards his chin, he smirked as Kaldur barely pulled back in time. Jumping up, intending to knee him in the face, Robin internally groaned as Aquaman's protégé took something from his playbook, flipping away from him.

"You almost had him that time," Onyx cheered from where he sat on the floor doing the make-up homework for his school so he'd be caught up by his first day.

"I'd like you to keep that up," Robin teased as the hybrid smirked.

"Please, I could, it's just not as fun."

The Boy Wonder bounded over, looking over the papers. "What ya working on?"

"Homework."

Robin mock gasped, "No? Really? I thought you were working on a news article." Swinging his tail, Nightmare smirked as Robin collapsed next to him with a yelp. Wasn't often he could catch him off guard. "Ok, I'll admit, I walked into that."

"Nightmare, do you wish to spar?" Kaldur asked joining them.

"I do, but I have to learn all these useless facts about the Greek gods."

"You know, Wonder Woman is an Amazon, she could help," Robin reminded.

Tossing the Boy Wonder an annoyed glance, Onyx sniffed the air, picking up the resident couple making their way in. "We've got the lovebirds inbound."

"You don't know your own mother's an Amazon and yet you know they're dating?" Robin deadpanned as they all stood up.

"I knew she was an Amazon!" their teammate protested as Kaldur joined them.

"I think we all knew they were dating before they did," Kaldur chuckled.

"Do we tell them?" Onyx asked motioning to the incoming archer and speedster with his tail as they started walking through the other entrance.

"How do you do that?" Robin questioned in frustration. He hadn't been able to sneak up on the hybrid since he arrived, and frankly, it was annoying he had yet to startle the newest member of the team.

It was only when the older teen tapped his nose the Boy Wonder nearly smacked his forehead at the sheer obviousness of it. Smell. Onyx relied on his sense of smell. He was a hybrid of one of the most dangerous and effective hunters to ever walk the Earth, of course his smell was amazing. For Pete's sakes it was good enough to tell when people were _lying _to him, of course he could identify individuals based on their scent.

"So are we telling them or not?"

"It is not our place."

"So if Zatara's our babysitter of the week, what's he still doing here?" Wally grumbled pointing at Captain Marvel. "And where did he get my snacks?"

Onyx glanced away trying to be inconspicuous, it wasn't his fault that the hero had tagged along when he was tracking down the hidden snacks.

"Recognized: Batman—02," the computer said as the Dark Knight stormed in.

"Computer, national news."

Cat grant appeared onscreen, standing in a destroyed street. _"The initial attack was short-lived, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve,"_ she said as the footage switched to two large plants in the downtown area, one of which crushed a building into rubble. Superman swooped in, pulling two people off the collapsing rooftop as the Hawks batted away vines with their maces. _"And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League there seems to be no end in sight."_

"Should we get out there?" Robin asked.

"No. The league will soon have the situation under control. That's not why I'm here," he replied. "According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied the Cadmus blockbuster formula to Cobra."

"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to make Cobra-Venom," Wally interrupted.

"Which the Brain used to create his animal army," Robin added.

"And upgrade Wolf," Conner said ruffling the canine's ears.

M'gann chimed in, "The Brain also inhibitor collars like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary."

"With the help of the other hybrids," Nightmare remarked.

"Who were also seen working with Psimon and Queen Bee in Bialya."

"And one of whom worked with Black Manta to attempt to steal a research project from the Atlantean laboratories."

"Batman, is it possible this plant thing's on Cobra-Venom too?" Artemis inquired.

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis. The vine's cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Cobra-Venom variant."

"These cannot be coincidences. Unrelated criminals operating with one another worldwide."

"Exactly. It's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of secret society of supervillains," Batman acknowledged. "The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

"Got that right," Robin said typing on a holopad and several more news feeds appeared. "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Starr City, Paris, Taipei—hey!" he said as the feeds cut into static.

"Dude."

"It's not me! Someone's cutting into the satellite signal—all satellite signals!"

The static vanished and Nightmare would forever deny that he yelped when a bone white face with green hair and blood red lips appeared on camera. He tapped the camera as if he needed to get everyone's attention, before leaning back with an even wider smile than before. _"Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring this important announcement,"_ he opened a switchblade, grabbing the camera and moving it to where a group could be seen: a pale redhead wearing green, evil Captain Marvel, an angry-looking gorilla, a corpse, and two Dracula impersonators, _"from the Injustice League."_

_"We are responsible for the attacks on your cities,"_ the first Dracula impersonator spoke. He even had the accent. _"If you wish to save them, a ransom of ten-billion American dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit. But, the longer your governments wait…"_

_"The more we get to have our jollies," _the clown grinned breaking into eerie laughter as the feeds cut.

"Rodger that Aquaman, the UN will prepare the ransom as a back-up plan, but it will _not _come to that," Batman said before turning back to the team.

Robin typed on the keypad and rewound the footage, pausing at the image of the Injustice League. "Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Atom, Wotan—seven heavy-hitters. Probably behind nearly everything and everyone we faced."

"There's your secret society."

"Not so secret anymore."

"Perhaps after India, they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer."

"That was their mistake," KF grinned. "Right now, I saw we go kick some plant-creature butt."

"Plant's don't have butts."

"You know what I mean!"

"The Justice League will handle the plants," Batman stated. "I have a different job for this team."

"Aw man," Wally groaned before yelping as Nightmare smacked him upside the head.

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it."

Zatara gulped, steadily taking a few strides towards the Caped Crusader. "You realize what you're really asking them to do."

"They're ready."

"Ready? For what?" Wally questioned.

Artemis punched his arm. "Hello Wally, if the League's out fighting the plant-monsters, who do you think we'll be fighting?"

"I don't know! I guess we'll—!" he stopped as Artemis pointed at the screen. "Oh."

"Well Batman, I trust you're correct," Zatara said.

"And I trust you can locate the enemy."

"Indeed, Wotan's involved, meaning sorcery is a part of how the plants are controlled. Robin, if you would provide a holomap," the magician said and the teen nodded, pulling up the map as the man stepped forwards. "Etacol eht ecruos fo eth ecnabrutsid!" A red dot appeared on the globe. "There. That is where you will find the Injustice League central control system."

"Coordinates locked in: the Louisiana Bayou."

-.-

**Louisiana Bayou: 18:52CST**

The team sat silently doing final checks over their gear for the mission. Nightmare's tail tapped nervously, this was the biggest mission they'd ever been given. They couldn't afford to fail, not with so much at stake.

"What's in the duffel?" Wally asked breaking the silence and they all glanced at the green bag at Kaldur's feet.

"Plan B."

M'gann groaned lifting a hand from the controls to hold her head, Conner looking at her concerned. "You ok?"

"Dizzy."

"Martian's get airsick?" Robin questioned.

"She does look a bit greener than usual," Wally remarked.

"Not me, her."

"I feel fine," Artemis said raising her hands.

"Not, her, the bioship," she corrected, "she's trying to shield us, but…" M'gann trailed off as the ship dove down, making them all grab onto their seats as she tried to get it back under control. It stabilized for a moment, before an impact from below sent the ship slamming into the murky waters.

"I think that was our welcoming committee," Nightmare grunted sitting up.

"At least they were kind enough to greet us," Robin chuckled.

"Vines!" Artemis pointed and they could see the thick plants wrapping around the ship, dragging it down.

Thudding came from the roof and M'gann cried out holding her head. "He's hurting her!" In response, Conner leapt from his seat, decking Black Atom in the face and sending him flying off somewhere as water started to put in through the tear in the roof.

"No. No way I'm nearly drowning three missions in a row!" Artemis growled pulling out two rebreathers passing the other to Wally as Robin passed two more to Nightmare and Suberboy.

"M'gann! We need to get out! Open a hatch!"

"Hello Megan," Miss Martian said smacking her forehead as gills appeared along her neck. Diving down underwater they watched as she opened a port at the bottom.

_"Out! Everyone out!" _Aqualad ordered. Swimming out the bottom, they came to a stop seeing a girl in a dark grey and blue wet suit with scales and a tail swimming in front of them.

"Kuleana," the team leader growled getting between them and the aquatic hybrid.

"Good to see you again Kaldur, I'm glad to see you're still alive," she smiled baring her sharp teeth. "Now, surrender before things get ugly."

_"I'll handle her, the rest of you, get to the surface and complete the mission."_

_"You sure you don't want help?" _Robin questioned_._

_"You all would be at a disadvantage against her, here we are both in our element. I have faced her once before. What she has in brute strength I can make up for with sorcery,"_ Aqualad replied as his tattoos started glowing.

The girl grinned, "I was hoping you'd choose the hard way." Swimming forwards like a shark, she and Kaldur collided, the male's back slamming into the slimy bayou floor. Kicking up, he pushed her off, before making a mace and swinging at her.

Crawling up on the shore, the others looked back watching the surface for any sign of Kaldur. "Do…do you think he can take her?" Wally panted.

"He's one of the strongest people we know, he'll be fine," Robin reassured.

"How's the Bioship?" Superboy questioned, putting a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder.

"She's in shock, she'll need time to recover."

Pain erupted in all their heads and they collapsed, their bodies feeling to weak to stand. "Vertigo," Kid Flash hissed.

"Count Vertigo to you peasant."

Superboy slowly got up, lunching at Black Atom whom merely swatted him aside like he was a fly before Vertigo grunted as a body was tossed against him.

The feeling of sickness overwhelming them vanished instantly, and they got up to see Kuleana getting off of Vertigo from when Kaldur hurled her at the man.

"You'll pay for that!" she snarled her eyes blazing with fury.

_"Nightmare, Miss Martian, Robin, disappear!"_ Aqualad ordered. _"We will keep them busy, you three complete the objective."_

Nodding, Onyx turned with Robin and vanished into the forest, quietly hopping across the exposed tree roots in order to avoid making sound. _"How far are we from the compound?"_

_"Not far, we'll just have to be prepared, if one hybrid's here that means the others might not be too far behind."_

-.-

Black Atom tossed Superboy on the ground near the others as they got a head-count. "Three are missing!" Vertigo snarled.

"Don't worry, my team will handle them," Kuleana smiled.

-.-

_"I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others,"_ M'gann informed.

_"I'm sure they're fine."_

_"Should we…?"_

_"We need to finish the mission,"_ Robin stated as Nightmare grabbed his cape yanking him to a stop. _"What—?"_

Onyx held up a finger saying to be quiet as he sniffed the air, this air was damp and heavy, it would make it hard to track or catch the scents of prey, but he was certain he smelled the general musk of a T-Rex. Sliding his third eyelid into place, he didn't bother to acknowledge Robin's small reaction to the extra membrane.

They weren't alone.

_"We're being hunted,"_ he stated frankly.

Robin's eyes widened, realizing why his teammate stopped him. _"The other hybrids?"_

Seeing a heat source, he looked closer spotting two forms with long tails, one clubbed, one spiked, up ahead. To their right, someone big with a tail. _"Yes, two in front, one to our right. If there's any others I can't see them, even with thermal vision." _Looking up, his eyes widened as he spotted a winged form flying above. _"Correction, I've got one more in the sky."_

"My, my, A1, you caught our scent faster than anticipated." Before their eyes, a somewhat tan woman with white scales appeared in front of them like how M'gann would when she came out of camouflage. "But then again, you always were the favorite lab rat," she sneered, "I doubt you remember all the…improvements."

Robin and Miss Martian, stood back-to-back with their teammate, getting into fighting stances as the four other hybrids surrounded them.

"Surrender sidekicks," the Pteranodon-hybrid demanded as she landed, "you cannot win."

"For the last time, we aren't sidekicks!" Robin exclaimed throwing a smoke bomb on the ground.

Smoke filled the surrounding air, and Nightmare switched back to infrared, quickly getting bearings on his surroundings. Robin swung down through the air, probably using one of his grappling hooks as he tossed something and the winged girl gave a cry and fell to the ground. Swinging by, he kicked one of the hybrids in the chest. He could spot M'gann blasting back the T-Rex and Ankilosaur hybrids with a telekinetic blast, leaving him with the girl who could turn invisible.

Sniffing the air, he tried catching her scent, but the smell of smoke and the other scents overwhelmed his senses. So tracking her by smell wasn't an option and he couldn't see her because she could hide her thermal signature.

The only warning, he received was a loud growl as claws dug into his arm as he whirled around to deflect her attack. "Oh A1, I expected more from you," she taunted baring her fangs at him.

Wrinkling his nose in anger, he kicked her in the gut, before jumping up and swinging his tail, slapping her across the face. She stood up, a maniacal grin split her face as she wiped the blood off her lip. "You actually managed to wound me, not even the others have managed such a feat. You should be proud A1."

Lunging at him, Onyx barely managed to roll out of the way as her claws swiped at his face. Grabbing his lasso, he tossed it out at her, pinning her arms to her side. He grimaced as she wrapped her tail around the rope, trying to pull him closer. Growling, he bared his teeth and lunged. Clearly caught off guard by his lack of resistance, she stumbled back as he jumped, his fist making impact with her face with a painful crack as she slammed into the ground. She gave a loud snarl and his legs were swiped out from under him as her tail collided with his knees. Thankfully that the swampy ground softened his fall. He jumped back to his feet at the same time his opponent managed to free herself from his rope. With a fanged smile, she yanked on his lasso, and he dug his heels into the squishy ground, matched in a game of tug-o-war.

Robin grunted as he landed on a branch, looking down at the Stegosaurus hybrid he'd been fighting. Unlike the Pteranodon-girl he was having difficulty tying him up due to his tail. _"I could use some back-up here!"_

_"Still working on the other two!"_ M'gann called as she tossed the one with the clubbed tail at the dark-skinned one. _"The T-Rex hybrid's a telepath!"_

Perfect, just perfect. Dropping down, Robin covered himself with his cape as the other teen's tail stabbed into the branch, splintering it into fragments.

Nightmare looked at Robin in worry, before glancing at Miss Martian and her two opponents. They needed to finish this battle soon or otherwise their mission would be compromised._ "Guys! Bring them around the same tree! I've got an idea!"_

Seeming to understand, Robin grinned as flipped off the green-scaled hybrid's face with one of his signature cackles as he climbed into the branches once again.

Two figures flew over the girl as she ducked and they slammed into the tree with pained grunts. Using her distraction to his advantage, Nightmare, wrapped his tail around the rope and used it to help him gain leverage as he hurled her towards her buddies.

_"M'gann! Hold them there!"_ Robin called pulling out a rope tossing it to Nightmare. Racing around the tree, he quickly tied them to the plant as Robin and Miss Martian tied their tails to their legs.

_"Where's the other girl?"_

_"She's tied up on another tree, but we can't worry about that right now. We have a mission to finish!"_ Robin reminded as the sprinted off, hearing angered roars behind them.

Hopefully those ropes wouldn't break soon.

-.-

_"Finally, we're here,"_ the Boy Wonder panted as they knelt in the foliage studying the domed building, _"the Injustice League's central control system. Looks like that plant's acting as an antenna to control the others."_

Catching a sharp scent that almost reminded Nightmare of Sorna's poisonous plants accompanied by the all too familiar scent of a gorilla. He whirled around, getting in front of his teammates with a growl as a woman stood behind them._ "We have company."_

_"Poison Ivy."_

"Hello kiddies," she said as vines burst from the ground, wrapping around their torsos. Behind her, a pale gorilla with a visible brain and a gun stepped out aiming it at them. "And goodbye."

The beast's gun jerked down, likely the result of the Martian's telekinesis, firing at the vines holding them. Feeling the pressure release, Nightmare followed his teammates lead as they split apart, looking for an opening to strike.

Fortunately, the two villains seemed preoccupied with the others. Robin had fought Ivy before, so he had the advantage of knowledge and was able to avoid her attacks so far. M'gann could turn invisible, but the gorilla had a gun.

With a slight hiss, he quickly prowled through the dark foliage after his prey. Nightmare crouched down in the foliage, watching M'gann lead Ultra Humanite towards him. Watching the gorilla, he bared his teeth and leapt out, landing on the beast's shoulders, digging his claws in as far as he could. The impact sent them rolling through the mud, but Nightmare was the first to recover, ripping his nails out before using them to cut off the sling keeping it on Humanite's shoulder as Nightmare tossed the gun to the side.

_"Robin, Nightmare, she's made contact,"_ M'gann said forcing the vines attacking their teammate to explode.

_"Artemis?"_

_"No,"_ the blonde archer replied as a glowing cage flew over them.

It was then Nightmare had the pleasure of watching Wotan get run over by the Bioship, freeing their teammates from the cage.

Turning back to the battle, he ducked away from another swing of the gorilla's massive fists. Quickly, he snatched the lasso off of his hip and opened the loop around the arm as it passed his face, and he pulled it tight, swinging under the arm to wrap the other end around its other free arm. The rope pulled taut, and the hybrid held the slack as he struggled to maintain distance between him and the thrashing gorilla as it tried to free itself.

"Suberboy!" he called and his teammate smirked as he saw him wrangling Ultra Humanite like a bull. "I have a present for you!"

"I hate monkeys."

"I know! Punch it!" Onyx snapped yanking on the lasso as hard as he could, sending the white beast flying off the ground towards Conner's waiting fist. Not bothering to check the aftermath, he freed his rope with a few quick tugs and brought it back over checking on the progress of the others. Robin and Miss M were missing, probably setting the bombs. Artemis and Aqualad were handling Poison Ivy. Superboy was digging himself and Wolf out of the crater Humanite's impact made. Leaving Kid Flash, alone against Vertigo and Black Atom.

The speedster suddenly slowed down as Vertigo attacked, and Nightmare took that as his cue. Rushing over, he grabbed his teammate, yanking him down out of the way as Black Atom's fist swung, nearly hitting KF in the head.

"Thanks," Wally panted as they rolled over, glaring up at their opponents.

"No problem," he replied before they both sped out of the way as Vertigo turned towards him. _"We'll need to stay out of his sight in order to attack him."_

_"You're forgetting about his big buddy over there, not to mention, you're slower than I am!"_

_"I can still run over a hundred miles per hour,"_ he remarked. _"You take Vertigo from the back. Leave Atom to me."_

"MY BABY!" Poison Ivy screamed as an explosion shook the ground and a loud screech was heard as the plant-creature died. Now was their chance.

Nightmare leapt at Atom first, landing on his back he made sure his claws dug in before he bit down on the villain's ear, making him cry out as he yanked. Hopefully there was a toothbrush on the Bioship for afterwards.

Wally gave a very disappointing battle cry as he literally threw himself at Vertigo like a missile, but the hybrid was more distracted by Atom grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling him over his shoulders, slamming him onto the ground. Rolling out of the way of a fist, Nightmare proudly kicked the man in the family jewels with the heel of his combat boot.

In retribution, Nightmare was grabbed by his neck as the man flew upwards to avoid being hit by Superboy and Wolf as they came to his aid. With a smirk, Captain Marvel's arch nemesis tossed him aside and left him to plummet to the ground.

-.-

"NIGHTMARE!" Superboy called watching his teammate get tossed out of the sky. About to jump up to help him, he cried out as a blast of lightning pinned him to a tree, another flash bursting by and hitting Wolf.

One after another each of his teammates fell, being pinned down by lightning from Wotan.

"Plan B," Kaldur grunted defending M'gann.

Despite the pain, Conner couldn't help but wonder what that meant. Call in the League? They could certainly use the help right now, especially since one of them was currently MIA thanks to Black Atom. Glaring at the villain he promised that he was going to get payback and break his jaw at least for attacking his friend.

The lightning stopped and Wotan gasped as Aqualad held up a golden helmet. "The Helmet of Fate."

Conner's brows furrowed, wasn't that that helmet they got from Kent Nelson? Why did Kaldur have it? How was it plan B? Judging from the way Wolf was growling, his pet didn't like the implications either.

"NO AQUALAD DON'T!" Wally screamed before Atom raced over and hit him, sending the mouthy speedster flying across the clearing into a tree with a sharp crack.

Furious, Superboy didn't even hesitate to break the man's nose in retribution. First Onyx, now Wally, no more of his teammates would get hurt because of this guy tonight!

-.-

Racing through the swamp, Nightmare swiftly wove between trees and branches desperately trying to get back to his teammates. He wasn't sure how he escaped the fall unscathed, and he wasn't going to question his good fortune at the moment. Right now, all that mattered was reaching his pack. He could smell it, fear. Something bad just happened, he wasn't sure what, but he was sure as hell he wouldn't let them face it alone.

Coming to the clearing, he quickly got an assess of the situation. Dr. Fate was there, Kaldur was missing, Wally was wounded, Suberboy was blindly attacking Black Atom, Artemis was handling Vertigo, Ultra Humanite was fighting against Wolf, and M'gann was dealing with Ivy most likely.

In front of him, he saw Robin staring at him in relief as the Joker pulled out a knife. "I always wanted to carve this bird," the madman chuckled darkly.

With a yowl, Nightmare jumped on his back and drug his claws down the length of his biceps as he bit his ear the same way he bit Atom's, yanking his head to the side and forcing the supervillain to stumble in the given direction or risk losing his ear.

With a shout, the man swung his arms down, forcing Nightmare to jump off or get stabbed in the leg. The Joker cackled, "Oh lookie, it's my lucky day. I get to carve a bird and dig up a dinosaur's bones!"

The madman grinned, swinging at the reckless hybrid, his blades bouncing off the scales as the teen spun and hit him in the face with his tail. The man stumbled back and Robin threw a batarang, knocking his knives out of his hands.

A blast caught their attention and the two teens sighed seeing the League join the fray, helping them corral the supervillains. "It's over," Batman said and they slowly raised their hands.

"There will be another day," Vertigo said in his pompous accent. Nightmare growled, curse diplomatic immunity.

Joker began to cackle as he began to raise his hands with a mad smile. "Another day? Another day! There won't be another day! NOT FOR ANY OF US!"

Vines began to grow out of the ground, red blemishes growing until they burst, releasing a green gas. "Joker-Venom spores! Don't breathe!" Batman ordered as he decked the clown and knocked him out.

"FEAR NOT!" Fate exclaimed flying above the gas. A symbol began to glow and the gas moved up towards it, being sucked in till it was all gone. "FATE HAS INTERVENED!"

**"That was dramatic."**

-.-

Nightmare lead Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Superman, Green Arrow, and Flash through the forest towards where they tied up the other hybrids while his team gave Batman the debriefing and found a way to get the helmet off Kaldur.

Sniffing the air, he narrowed his eyes and jogged ahead. The scent was stale, if they were still where they left them, it'd be fresh. Moving a branch out of his way, he growled, stalking forwards and picking up the broken ropes.

"They escaped," Superman said and the teen nodded holding up the frayed end of the ropes.

"It must've been the hybrid that Kaldur fought, she wasn't with the group that attacked us."

"Well, they're long gone now," Flash said as he returned. "Didn't leave a trail for me to follow. Think you could smell them out?"

Nightmare shook his head, "Scent's already old, I doubt I'd be able to track it through all this. I had trouble catching it fresh."

"Hey guys!" Green Arrow called. "Look at this."

The group joined from where they were looking for clues to where the archer stood beside a tree. On the trunk, there were words carved in with claws: _See you again soon A1._

**A/N: hey guys! Back for another chapter! Close call huh? Anyways, I'll see y'all in the next chapter or in one of me other stories! **


	20. Relatives

Chapter 19

**A/N: Alrighty! Next chapter! Once again, I just own my OCs and this story, nothing else is mine. **

**/comms/**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**Themiscyra, October 10, 13:45**

Onyx stared out the window anxiously as he sat in the backseat of the invisible jet, they were going to Diana's home to meet his grandmother and aunt before the big announcement. Honestly, he was terrified, Amazons were a tribe of warrior women who were just overall badasses. He…he was just a freak who grew up with dinosaurs. How was he even worthy to be considered near their class? Especially after all the stunts he pulled as a kid?

Not to mention he was a male, sure the Amazons at the embassy seemed to like him, but that was after they sparred with and got to know him. Though, now he could safely say that Diana had more than enough help when it came to teaching him combat. But the other Amazons…they didn't like men; at least that's what he understood.

He really didn't want to die today.

"Nervous?"

The teen smiled shyly tugging on his loose t-shirt, "That obvious?"

"You'll be ok."

"How do you know? Last I checked Amazons don't like men…right?"

"Not really, but they won't kill you on sight," she chuckled. "Batman and Superman have been there and lived to tell the tale, so have a few other members of the League and one or two non-Leaguers."

"But—"

"No buts," she interrupted, "I know you Little Hunter, you worry too much about what can go wrong. They'll love you, I'm sure of it. And if not, I'll kick their butts."

That declaration cheered him up, only it didn't last long as they landed on the Greek island. Cowering in the backseat as the doors opened, he peered over the edge with wide eyes watching as a group of armored women much like the guards back home approaching on either side of a woman. She was tall, wearing a furred cape on her back and golden Greek robes. "Diana," the woman greeted as she bowed to her before rising to her feet and hugging the cloaked woman.

"It's good to see you again Mother," she smiled, nodding to a dark-haired girl in a Greek dress, Donna, there's someone I want you to meet. You can come out!"

"WILL I BE SHOT?"

"I told you, you wouldn't be."

"THEY'RE SCARY!"

"Onyx, here, now."

Praying to God he'd live to go to the cave that afternoon, he slowly emerged from the safety of the invisible jet, quickly darting over to his human mother and hiding behind her. "Mother, meet my protégé and son, Onyx," Diana smiled. "Onyx, meet your grandmother Queen Hippolyta and your Aunt Donna."

The Amazonian Queen's blue eyes inspected the small child peering out from behind her eldest for a minute before she looked to Diana. "You have a lot to explain."

-.-

"And you were ok with this?" Hippolyta questioned as she and her daughters walked along the training grounds where the teen was currently trying to figure out how to use a sword and shield. She would admit, he integrated into them far faster than she anticipated. The rest of their sisters loved him, despite the fact he was male.

Perhaps it had to do with the fact he didn't behave like the other men they had encountered over the years. Though…it could be the fact that it was obvious that the boy would never truly fit in man's world. Men were so unaccepting of things that weren't like them, things that didn't belong. Her grandson would unfortunately been seen like that to many due to his…animalistic traits.

Or, perhaps it could be a sign from the gods, after all it wasn't the first time…the Queen shook her head, shoving the thought aside. No, it likely wasn't that. The gods hadn't directly interacted with the Amazons since Diana defeated Ares.

The boy at least wasn't arrogant. In fact, the teen practically idolized them. He was quite eager to learn about their culture and leapt at the chance to spar…once he realized that they wouldn't kill him.

Yet, there was still something about him that she couldn't put a finger on, something almost terrifyingly familiar.

Her eldest daughter sighed, looking towards the training ground watching her son spar with Artemis. "I'll admit, when Bruce first told me I felt violated," Diana confessed. "Someone took my DNA blended it with the genetic profile of…I don't know who, and made him."

"And you still took him in?"

"He didn't ask to be made. Besides, I started building trust and training with him for weeks before I knew. I'm happy to say he took more after me than his father."

"And who might his father be?" Donna asked, speaking up for the first time since her sister's explanation.

Diana stopped walking, looking towards the beach. Taking a deep breath, she simply sighed turning to face her, "I don't know but something tells me he's dangerous."

That was something they could agree on.

The Amazon queen looked at her daughter. The young woman's brows were furrowed and the corners of her mouth were turned down, she was worried. "You're concerned. And considering who we were just discussing, I assume it's about that man?"

"He's made moves."

Hippolyta's eyes narrowed and she noticed Donna go stiff, while she didn't know her "grandson" very well, it was clear that Diana and their sisters at the Embassy in America were very fond of their "brother" as they called him. A threat to one of their people was a threat to all. "What kind of moves?"

"He's sent teams to try to take him," Diana began. "First was when he was still on the island, I went to visit him one day and there were teams hunting him down. I eventually found him, but he passed out. When we got him to medical turns out they almost overdosed him. Second time was when those giant plants were attacking. Luckily, they managed to get away."

She nodded, that was concerning. Extremely concerning. "Do you want me to send more guards?"

"Artemis and I would be more than happy to help out," Donna offered.

Diana shook her head. "We can handle it. I just want to know what his next move is."

"You want to keep your child safe. I think I can understand that. I felt the same way when you left for the world of man. He will be fine, he has a wonderful mother looking out for him."

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 16:33EDT**

"Nightmare—B08," the computer said as the hybrid zetaed into the Cave.

"Sorry I'm late," he called jogging over to where Wally sat in a chair as the others trained.

"Where've you been?" the speedster asked.

"Meeting my grandmother, aunt, and the rest of the Amazons. Have I missed much?"

"Nope, just training."

"How's your arm?" he questioned motioning to the cast.

"I'd say I'm doing all right," the red head smirked as he took a drink from Captain Marvel. "You know, but I'd really feel better with some nachos."

"I'll be right back!" the hero said flying away.

"You're horrible Wally."

"I'm well aware," he smirked. "So, how was Themiscyra? Was it really filled with babes?"

"I was more focused on not making a mistake and dying a horrible painful death."

"Good work everyone," Black Canary congratulated as the training session ended. "In fact, we've had a very productive week."

"Yeah, for everyone except Kid Malingerer," Artemis teased.

"Hey! Arm broken in fight against the Injustice League here!"

"Injuries aren't an excuse for not being able to fight," Nightmare scolded.

"Said the guy who grew up on a wild island! You're used to it!"

"And you aren't?" Robin snickered. "Not like we get injured in fights all the time or anything."

"That's enough," Black Canary chided, her tone holding a hint of amusement. "I've really enjoyed being your, uh, den mother this week."

"Recognized: Zatara—11." The magician appeared in the Zeta Tube and he typed on a monitor. "Access Granted: Zatanna Zatara—A03. Authorization: Zatara—11." The Zeta Tube activated again, and this time a girl with dark hair in a school uniform walked in.

"Zatanna, this is the team," Zatara introduced, "Team, my daughter Zatanna."

M'gann was the first to fly over, "Hi, I'm—"

"ROBIN!" the Boy Wonder hastily interrupted, before he cleared his throat, "I mean, I'm Robin. She's M'gann. That's Wally, Artemis, Onyx, Kaldur, and Conner."

"Welcome to the Cave."

"Uh, thanks."

"So, uh, are you joining the team?" Robin questioned.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara answered removing his hat, "this is strictly a visit." He turned to Canary. "I am sorry we missed the training, I was hoping Zatanna could benefit."

"It's fine, she wasn't the only one that missed," the blonde heroine said tossing the hybrid a scolding glare as he smiled and waved nervously.

_"Does anyone get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?"_ M'gann asked.

_"Not just Zatara,"_ Conner said motioning to the other hero still in the cave, _"why's Marvel still hangin' around?"_

_"Because we like having him around."_

_"You like having him around cause he waits on you hand and foot."_

_"And your point is…?"_

Nightmare snorted his tail swaying in frustration as he put his hands on his hips, _"Ever consider he's doing that to keep a closer eye on us. I mean, look what happened in India. He probably wants to make sure we don't screw up again."_

_"It all makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado as our supervisor,"_ Kaldur commented crossing his arms.

_"At least he trusted us,"_ Robin agreed.

_"You're ignoring the fact we shouldn't've trusted him! That machine nearly got M—all of us killed!"_ Conner snapped.

"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Zatanna questioned and all heads snapped towards her. "Cause I can't decide if that's cool or really rude."

The team all felt the questioning gazes of Zatara and Canary on them. Superboy was the first to break, "Alright, we were talking about Tornado. Its been weeks since his attack and the League hasn't told us anything."

"The League is searching for Tornado," Canary replied, "as well as the other androids that invaded the Cave, and their creator T.O. Morrow. Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority."

"But you've found none of the above," Robin stated.

"Not yet, but Tornado is Justice League. The team is _not _to pursue this."

"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a tour of the Cave?" Zatara suggested and they glanced back skeptically at the girl petting Wolf.

"You're giving a tour?" Captain Marvel questioned as he walked in with a plate. "Cool!"

"Actually, I was hoping you could take Wolf for a walk," Conner said as the big white canine got up and trotted over to the red and gold clad hero, "he could use the exercise since Nightmare isn't here anymore to preoccupy him when we're at school. We'll join you in a few."

"Sure! I could do that! Come on Wolf!" he said flying off with the great beast bounding after him.

"My nachos," Wally whined as Conner grabbed him by the front of his shirt, dragging him away.

Walking up to the living room, Zatanna jogged up to join them, causing most to double-take at her. Her uniform was gone, replaced by a lavender tank-top and white pants. "When did you—How…?" Robin sputtered.

"We aren't really taking a tour are we?" the new girl questioned.

"No," Superboy replied. "We're hunting down that robot."

"Yes, we are," Kaldur confirmed as she looked at him questioningly.

"Wow, out loud and everything."

"What about…?" Artemis trailed over pointing to the magician's daughter.

"I'm sure she won't tell."

"Let's see, will you tell on us Zatanna?" Nightmare questioned tilting his head forwards, trying to catch a scent change to let him know she was lying.

"I can't tell, not if you kidnap me."

"She's gonna fit in just fine," Artemis cackled as the rest of them grinned.

-.-

/M'gann, the Bioship wasn't authorized for departure/ Canary said.

"We're kidnapping Zatanna!" she exclaimed, "Uh, to show her Happy Harbor. Be back soon."

/Roger that. Have fun/

"Where are we going?" Robin groaned. "Batman's the world's greatest detective, and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location. If we're going to do better, we're going to need an illogical solution. A truly dumb idea."

Everyone looked at Kid Flash.

"As a matter of fact, I do have one."

"Care to share?"

-.-

**Belle Reve, 18:35**

"Warden said he owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break, so he's given us five minutes with you," M'gann said as they stood around who Onyx recognized as Professor Ivo during his lessons with Wonder Woman on supervillains. Apparently the team fought him some point before or during his confinement in the Cave infirmary. Needless to say, Onyx decided quickly that he did not like the man, something about him gave him the chills.

"Spill Ivo! How do we find T. O. Morrow and the Reds?" Superboy demanded.

"Now why would I know how to find Morrow?"

"Because," KF groaned, "and here's a truly dumb idea, you're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android business. Who better to keep track of what he's up and where?"

"Ah. I see your point. So let me rephrase: Why in the world would I tell you how to find Morrow?"

"He knows," Aqualad said nodding to Miss Martian.

Her eyes began glowing and he scoffed, "Oh please, as if I've never faced a telepath before."

"We could just let Nightmare eat him," Wally suggested and the hybrid tossed him a scalding glance.

_"I don't eat people!"_

_"But he doesn't need to know that,"_ he replied and they looked to see the man had paled a shade.

Testing his luck, Nightmare bared his fangs and growled. The man gulped, "As if I believe the League will let you eat me."

"Llet su erehw Worrom si detacol!" Zatanna said glaring at Ivo.

"Morrow's in a secret undgerground bunker beneath Yellowstone National Park just two-hundred meters south of Old Faithful…Wait! What just happened?"

-.-

**Yellowstone, 19:22MT**

"Black out all external communication," Aqualad ordered, "soon Canary and Zatara, Batman too I imagine, will know of out visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."

"Yippee."

Robin chuckled turning to Zatanna, "Look, I'm trying to be all nonchalant here…"

"Why? Be as chalant as you'd like," she replied.

"I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers," Artemis stated. "Could you teleport us to Red Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force the bots to surrender?"

"Or create peace on Earth for all time?" Zatanna continued. "Even Zatara couldn't do all that," Zatanna said. "And I'm nowhere near on my dad's level. I need to know a spell cold, or else have time to prep it. Plus all magic requires energy, which usually has to come from within. I just can't make the impossible happen at will."

"Good to know."

"What's our ETA to Yellowstone?! I'm way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor!" Superboy snarled.

"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur questioned.

"Aren't you?"

"I am not convinced. And even so, that makes him but the victim of his creator's programming. Certainly he deserves a chance to prove he's more than the weapon others designed him to be."

Superboy seemed to deflate at that as he turned back to face the front.

"Is that Old Faithful!" Nightmare exclaimed hopping out of his seat to the window where he saw a massive spray of water shoot into the air.

"Yep, and the bunker's two-hundred meters south of it," Robin smirked.

"Everybody switch to stealth," Aqualad ordered as those with stealth-tech in their suits activated it. "I recommend you stay here."

"Is that an order?" Zatanna asked.

"No, you must do as you see fit."

"Good. Egnahc ym sehtolc rof ym mrofinu," Before their eyes she was surrounded in smoke and reappeared wearing a feminine version of her father's uniform.

"Impressive," Robin grinned.

"You can get back to flirting once we finish the mission," Nightmare chuckled leaving his teammate sputtering as he jogged out of the ship.

Racing through the forest, the came to a stop near the geyser fields as Robin checked his scanners. "Ivo was right, there's definitely something down there."

"We'll have to be careful," Nightmare warned, "from what I've read about this place the ground's thin, one wrong step and you could fall into boiling mud or water."

"Then we'll have to be watch our step," Kaldur agreed. "Let's go!"

They ran out of the safety of the forest onto the dry mud plains. The only reason they didn't reach their destination, was the red android flying in front of them, corralling them in with tornadoes, they couldn't go back to the woods for cover, and they couldn't run towards the traitor.

"WHY TORNADO?!" Miss Martian screamed over the winds. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"

Her response was more tornadoes forming in front of them.

_"Message received?"_

"WHO CARES WHY! NAIL HIM!" Conner snapped lunging forwards.

"SUPERBOY! MANUVER SEVEN!" Kaldur shouted chasing after. The clone stopped, whirling on his heel and interlacing his fingers as he formed a step for Aqualad. The Atlantean stepped up and let his teammate launch him into the air, towards their opponent, before a gust of wind slammed into him, sending him flying back into Conner.

Artemis and Robin charged forwards, tossing batarangs and firing arrows at him. Red Tornado formed a vortex on his fist, sending the projectiles back to their senders where they exploded on impact. This ticked Kid Flash off, "That's it. You aren't the only spin-doctor here." The speeder began to spin around, making a twister of his own in an attempt to counteract the forces of the ones Red Tornado was producing.

Up in the air, Miss Martian flew down, intending to tackle Tornado from behind. Instead, he managed to grab her fist, and hurl her down to the ground, landing on Wally as Nightmare jumped in the air, holding his lasso. Tossing it out, Tornado flew under the loop, grabbing onto the rope, before he started spinning around quickly. Releasing the rope, Nightmare went flying, skipping across the ground when he made impact.

Uncertain, Zatanna ran out onto the field, trying to recite a spell, only for Tornado's hand to wrap around her throat and she passed out from lack of oxygen a moment later.

"Quite a performance brother. But we both know that's all it was. I have all of your memories Tornado, plus a next-gen processor, I know your next move before you do."

_"We're compromised,"_ Nightmare warned and they all started getting up watching a buffer version of Red Tornado levitate a rock into the air.

"Blowing a message into the sand?" this new droid said as the message-bearing boulder broke apart and shot towards them. Swinging with his lasso, Nightmare managed to snag the one flying straight at Zatanna and Robin and pulled. Spinning around quickly, he let the rope go slack at the hunk of dirt flew through the air back at the sender where it broke apart on impact.

_"That didn't even leave a scratch,"_ Onyx winced.

_"This may be a challenge."_

_"No kidding,"_ Zatanna deadpanned, _"and Red Tornado's getting away!"_

_"Is he abandoning us?!"_

_"I don't believe that."_

"You stand no chance against me humans," the evil Red said swatting KF aside like a fly.

"WE'RE NOT ALL HUMAN!" Superboy, Miss Martian, and Nightmare shouted.

"Apologizes," he replied as two rocky hands emerged from the earth, clapping together hitting Superboy and Miss Martian. "I suppose the properly inclusive term is: Meat bags."

He waved his hand and the earth rumbled, a crack opening under Artemis', Aqualad's and Nightmare's feet. They fell through the opening, Artemis quickly pulling out a grapple-arrow, and grabbed Aqualad, whom tried to reach for Nightmare as he fell past.

"ONYX!" Artemis screamed as they swung back towards the closing surface. Landing on the ground she rolled to her feet watching as the crevasse closed, trapping their teammate inside.

Without missing a beat, Robin raced up a boulder, tossing a batarang which the android caught effortlessly and let explode in his hand. "Tornado's memories and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move."

"Mrof a htolc dna dnilb mih!" Zatanna cast, blinding the android. "Tornado never knew my moves."

"And I bet you've got some good ones," Robin quipped. "Whoa, sorry, that may've come off a little too Wally."

"I don't mind."

The ground shook, and the androids eyes glowed red, behind him, the top of the Yellowstone Super Volcano began to spew lava. _"He's activated a stage two eruption. If he gets to stage three, kiss the hemisphere goodbye!"_

Aqualad looked between where he and Artemis were trying to pry at the crack and where the others were fighting their enemy. They needed to get Nightmare out, but at the same time, they had to stop this eruption. _"Everyone, attack from all sides,"_ he ordered, pulling out his maces and running towards their opponent.

Artemis was about to protest, when the ground beside her burst open and her furious teammate flew out, releasing a sharp roar before rejoining the battle. Thank God, he was alive, enraged beyond all reason most likely, but she was relieved that she didn't just watch a teammate die in front of her. Artemis wasn't sure she could forgive herself if he did.

Nightmare looked down and saw several versions of Kid Flash running towards the evil illuminati robot. The droid stretched out his hand, and Nightmare grabbed the lasso off his waist, tossing it and catching the hand. With a harsh yank downwards, the android stumbled dropping M'gann into Wally's waiting arms as he raced her away from the heat.

A blast of water hit the robot, and Nightmare released the rope, letting him be blasted into the water. "Nice hit Aqualad," he called.

"The hit was not mine," he replied as he looked to his teammate, relieved to hear his voice. At the sight Aqualad's and Robin's eyes widened. "Nightmare…you're flying."

"I'm what?" he questioned before looking down, having only three seconds to realize what he was doing before falling in a heap on the unforgiving dirt. Sitting up, he watched as Red Tornado broke the rocks as the evil robot tried to lift himself out of the lava with the help of the other two reds that attacked the Cave.

"SISTER! BROTHERS! STOP!" he demanded as the female grappled with him before the water one jumped onto him, shoving him back under the surface of the molten rock. Red Tornado flew up, before dropping down feet first for an extra push to keep the larger android under. Slowly sinking into the magma, Superboy raced over, grabbing him out and setting the now legless hero down.

"The volcano's getting bigger."

"Tornado! We're on the verge of a stage three super volcano eruption, there's no turning back from that! We need to vent pressure, fast, otherwise that ash cloud will bring on a worldwide nuclear winter!" Wally instructed. "Robin, triangulate around for pressure focus!"

"Right!" Robin said typing on the scanner, three red dots appearing around the volcano. "These spots!"

Artemis nodded and hopped on Wally's back, letting him run her around as she used her bow to fire explosives at the pressure points. Coming back, they nodded to Tornado, who started flying into the air above the ash cloud. To their relief, the ash began to get sucked up out of the atmosphere and the lava cooled.

"Crisis averted," Nightmare breathed, resting his hands on his knees. "And here I thought by leaving the islands I would be done with volcanoes."

-.-

"There," Robin said setting down his tools, "that should do it."

"Yes," Tornado replied putting his face-piece back on, "I can speak again."

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet."

"The planet would've survived, it was humanity that was saved," the android corrected. "Though, not by me, my sister and brother, they were the true heroes this day."

Kaldur set his hand on Red's shoulder, "My point it this: You were never the mole, never the traitor."

"No. I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator Morrow."

"Souvenir!" Wally exclaimed grabbing something from a box of spare parts.

"Hey!" Robin said all but diving into a box full of parts, "We can rebuild you, better than before!"

"I don't think I should be repaired."

"You saved our lives, it's the least we could do," Nightmare shrugged.

"Here's what I want to know," Conner snapped storming over, "Why'd you volunteer to be our den mother in the first place?"

"I was the pragmatic choice: I do not eat or sleep, I have no secret identity and no second life to live."

"But you do have advanced AI programming to learn, adapt, evolve," Wally listed.

"Hello Megan! You wanted to become more human!"

"And you couldn't do that with the League," Artemis scoffed, "a bunch of stiffs."

"You sure aren't going to learn emotion from Batman, trust me," Robin snickered.

"So the Cave was not just a proving ground for us, but you as well."

"I do not know of these statements are accurate, but perhaps it is true. And if I understand the term correctly, I believe I've come to…care about you all."

"See, practically a meat bag already," Conner huffed.

"Now I'm hungry," Nightmare muttered.

"We really should find a new term for that," Wally grimaced sliding away from his hungry teammate.

Artemis, on the other hand, promptly punched the hybrid in the shoulder. "DON'T YOU EVER SCARE US LIKE THAT AGAIN! GOT IT!" she hollered.

"…ok," he gulped holding up his hands in surrender as she glared at him as the others, save for Aqualad, glanced between each other in confusion.

"In fact, for the next few hours, I'm not letting you out of my sight," she declared grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards the rest of the group.

"Oh Night! Since when could you fly?!" Robin exclaimed.


	21. Practice Makes Perfect

Chapter 20

**A/N: once again, I don't own JPS or YJ, just my OCs.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is velociraptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**D.C., October 16, 12:01EDT**

"Ok…maybe try keeping your tail straight?" Diana suggested helping him up after another very rough crash to the ground.

"We tried that already," he huffed.

"What about the first time your flew?" Aria spoke up from where she and a few of the other Amazons stood watching. "How did you fly then?"

"Uh…I don't know? I was just worried for my team," he shrugged.

Diana sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose. This was a lot harder than she thought it would be. "Maybe…maybe just don't focus on what you're doing?"

Welp, that was as good idea as any. Pushing off the ground, he closed his eyes and hoped and prayed that this time he could actually stay in the air longer than thirty seconds.

He didn't even make it thirty seconds this time.

"Why is this so hard?! I did it once before, I should be able to do it again!" Flopping down on the matted floor, he sprawled out glaring up at the ceiling. "I'm never gonna get this."

Diana sat by him, resting her arms on her knees. "You know, it took me a while to learn how to control my powers too."

"Really?" he said sitting up.

She nodded, "When I grew up, my mother didn't want me learning how to fight like the other Amazons. I'd spend my days sneaking away from my teachers to go out to the training field and watch my sisters train for battle and I would stand on the hill and try to copy them until my mother came and grabbed me. So our General, Antiope, secretly trained me under Mother's nose for years."

"Wait, the Queen wouldn't let _you_ fight?"

His mother chuckled, shaking her head, "You should've seen her face when she caught Antiope secretly training me. It took me almost a year to convince her to let me resume my training."

"Wow."

"Yep, but the funny thing was, when Mother let me start training, she insisted is was trained harder than any Amazon before me," she laughed lightly. "You'll probably start that same regiment soon."

"So, uh," he shifted, "how long did it take you to learn how to control your powers?"

"Well, for most of my life, I didn't even know I had them," she confessed. "In fact, it was by the end of my training that I truly tapped into them. I was sword fighting with Antiope for my final test. I managed to knock her sword away, but I brilliantly chose to look at Mother who was watching from the cliffs."

"And Antiope kicked your ass?" Onyx grinned.

Diana cuffed him on the back of the head. "Language!" she scolded resting her arm back on her knee as her sisters chuckled at their brother's misfortune. "But, yes. She did. At least, until I tapped into my powers and blasted her across the field when I knocked my gauntlets together. I hurt my closest friend that day."

Onyx looked down at the floor at that. He kinda knew what that was like, on the island, he's always been the strongest one in the pack. When he was a kid, he roughhoused with one of his nestmates and got too rough; he ended up breaking their leg.

"After that I started to figure out how to control my strength, so I wouldn't do it again," Diana continued. "And I did. I figured out how to use my strength properly out in the world of man fighting the Germans in my efforts to find Ares."

"What about your other powers?" he spoke up.

"Well…those ones came later," she replied quietly. "I lost someone close to me, and, like you, uncovered the rest of my powers when I flew into a rage and destroyed everything in my path, including people I cared about. It was only after I realized what I was doing was wrong I turned my powers against Ares and killed him. After that, it took me years to master them on my own." Her blue eyes met his own gold, "That's why I became your mentor, I didn't have anyone to teach me how to use my powers; I wasn't about to leave you to the same fate. This way, you won't hurt the ones you love like I did."

It was a moment later Diana found herself in a tight hug, much to her delight. Onyx had always kept some boundaries when it came to physical contact—hugging being one—but now here they were hugging like a real family. He did pull back after a minute, getting to his feet with a gleam in his eye that hadn't been there earlier.

"So…can we try again?"

"As many times as you need," she smiled standing.

-.-

"There you go!" someone cheered.

"Finally!"

Opening an eye, Onyx grinned as he saw himself actually flying, moving his tail, he nearly flailed as Wonder Woman grabbed his arms, steadying him. "Careful there. Let's work on your balance ok, think of this as swimming without the resistance and effort," she said letting him go and flying a few meters away, "Now, try to fly towards me."

Ok, he's watched Wonder Woman fly, he's seen M'gann and a few other heroes fly. It couldn't be that hard after he finally figured out how to get in the air.

He was proven wrong a minute later when he crashed into the wall.

"We'll get more pillows," Iris called.

-.-

"OW!" Onyx yelped as Diana reset his broken nose as he sat on the counter.

"Haven't you done this before?" she said raising an eyebrow. She'd seen his x-rays after all.

"I have, but that doesn't mean I like it," he replied pressing a towel to it.

"Fair point," she agreed. "So, are you ready for school?"

"No, do I have to go?" he whined. "I did good on all the tests."

"You did good on the science, math, and literature," Diana corrected, "your social skills need work. Besides, making friends with normal people will do some good for you."

"Yeah, they're normal, you know except for the fact they happen to be either royalty or kids of diplomats from around the world," he remarked, "so I wouldn't really call that normal."

"Ok, so not exactly normal, I'll give you that."

"Here's my question: if these people are royalty, why send them to some private school here in the states rather than hire private tutors or something back in their own countries?"

"So, like you, they can learn social skills and make connections with royalty from other countries."

"Oh."

"On the bright side, if there's ever an emergency you'll get to leave class," she reminded and he cheered. "But no making any up!"

"Darn it."

"Have you caught up on the homework?"

"Yep," he nodded before stopping to think about something, "hey, didn't the Team have that train for failure exercise today?"

"They did, but given your time on the island I think you're more than prepared for that."

"Oh…" he mumbled still holding the towel to his face. Guess she did have a point, he'd had hunts fail before, seen packmates die either by difficult food, starvation, sickness, or an unfortunate encounter with one of the island's larger predators. It was just the way life worked, the weak died and those strong enough to live would pass their strength onto the next generation. He never really considered it from a human standpoint before. Humans tried to make sure everyone would live—well most humans anyways—they tried to help the weak survive. Guess it had some merit, they were the most prosperous vertebrates on Earth…perhaps with the exception of rodents and maybe fish.

"Did you want to do the training?" Looking up at the slightly despondent face of his mentor, he shook he head. Besides, his flight needed more work, and…he wasn't sure he wanted to know what Batman had in store for them. At his reply, Diana smiled widely, "How about we relax for the rest of the evening, we've had a long day."

Tail tip starting to tap in anticipation, the young hybrid nodded eagerly. "With pizza and ice cream?"

"Sounds perfect to me."

Sliding off the counter, he walked into the living room eagerly flopping onto a couch. Moving the towel away from his face he winced at the amount of blood on it before groaning as he felt more continue to drip out, forcing him to reapply the bloody object. How long did it typically take nosebleeds to stop? He wasn't sure, but at least this time he wasn't dripping blood all over the place.

"Still bleeding?" Iris asked putting on her helmet as she walked to her shift of guard duty.

"Yeah," he grunted, his reply partially muffled by the towel.

The brunette woman gave a sympathetic wince, "Can't say I'm surprised, you hit that wall hard. I'm just impressed you didn't knock yourself out."

"Me too," he nodded in agreement. At the speed he slammed into that wall with he definitely should've taken more damage than he did, but he wasn't going to question his good fortune. However, there was no way he'd be flying that fast again for a while. Not till he knew how to turn and stop.

"Get better kiddo, you'll need all your strength for training this evening when I kick your butt," she called walking out and he gave an indignant squawk.

"YEAH RIGHT!" he shouted back as she laughed.

"So what do you want to watch first?" Diana asked sitting beside him holding two bowls of ice cream.

Shrugging he grabbed the remote, starting to scroll through movies and shows as they tried to decide what to watch. After about five minutes, his mother stopped him, grabbing the remote and scrolling back to a show he passed with a smirk he wasn't too sure about on her face.

His answer came a moment later when she stopped on some old movie, about dinosaurs.

Turning to her, he pressed his lips together trying to figure out a way to voice…whatever it was he was feeling. The only thing he managed to sigh out was a slightly exasperated, "Why?"

Her smirk remained firmly planted on her face as she pressed the button to start the show, "So we can see how accurate you think everything is and we can laugh at what they messed up."

-.-

**Cave**

Batman stood at a monitor typing as he listened in on the Failsafe Exercise the team was doing. So far things seemed to be going well, and the Dark Knight hoped it would stay that way throughout the rest of it. There was no doubt in his mind that this exercise would be rough, but it had to be done. Their protégés needed this training to be able to prepare for and handle the worst possible outcomes when the time came.

This also gave him some time to look at the files he found at one of InGen's subdivisions_: Apollo Engineering_.

From his research, Batman could confirm that AE was closely tied with InGen's dinosaur projects; particularly with all of Isla Sorna's projects. One of those no doubt being Onyx and the other hybrids.

Hopefully, if he was right, this lead would tell him exactly where Henry Wu was and what he was planning. The man had vanished after his credentials were stripped from him, but he was on Lex Luthor's payroll since the man bought out InGen and all of its subdivisions. Something was going on in the criminal underworld, something heavily involving genetic manipulation, and they needed to know what before another disaster like the Injustice League appeared.

Batman narrowed his eyes in contemplation. Was it possible that supervillains were trying to create modified soldiers for their own use? They'd done it before, but this was on a much bigger scale. In fact, the presence of the hybrids seemed to support the theory. Each one had their own specific abilities, specific strengths, and they were designed to no doubt work as a close unit.

The reports the team gave him about their encounters merely confirmed that. Especially their encounter with the Injustice League. The other hybrids were working for them—Onyx probably would've been too had he not escaped captivity when he did—they were a tight unit, six in total; currently serving as a counter squadron for the Young Justice League.

The one Kaldur reported seemed to be his adversary appeared to be part Mosasaurus. However, given the fact Mosasaur's didn't possess gills made the question of how did she survive so long without breathing arise? Like any aquatic air-breathing creature, there was a limit. One that was failed to be reported; meaning one of three things: she could hold her breath for an extremely long time like her donor, she was using a rebreather, or…or she wasn't a human hybrid. If that latter option was the case, it would mean she was most likely part Atlantean, meaning she'd have super-strength—which had been confirmed by Aqualad—and other possible abilities.

Superboy's adversary was most likely the Ankylosaur. He had armor that no bullet could possibly pierce and since he was part dinosaur, it was likely his strength was on par of his donor. Not to mention, he would possess extra powers considering their adversaries seemed to be using metahumans as their parental donors given Nightmare's own mysterious heritage.

Miss Martian's opposite was interesting and not what he would have expected, the T-Rex hybrid. He would've pegged that one as Superboy's, however, given the fact he possessed psychic abilities and telekinesis in addition to his super-strength. And Batman was willing to bet money Wu made him invulnerable as well.

The stegosaurus hybrid would most likely be to combat Artemis or any one of Green Arrow's apprentices. He was designed for close combat, something archers weren't typically suited for. That tail would certainly be a challenge, along with a possibility of invulnerability that he was expecting Dr. Henry Wu made standard for each of the hybrids in order to function optimally in the field.

Kid Flash's hybrid opponent was harder to pinpoint. He had it narrowed down to the Pteranodon hybrid as the most likely candidate. Nightmare had the speed the other hybrids seemed to lack, but he wasn't quite fast enough, yet. However, she could challenge the speedster. Kid Flash tended to act before he thought, and he always focus on what was in front of him; an attack from above would catch him off guard. And if she had super-strength, then if she caught the speedster then there'd be no escape.

That left his protégé and figurative son, Robin. Out of the last two remaining, it didn't take much to realize that Nightmare was most likely designed to be his opponent. Velociraptors were among the fastest and most lethal creatures to ever walk the Earth. He'd seen the boy's abilities close up. He could easily track the Boy Wonder down through smell, sight, hearing, and even thermal imaging. And with his invulnerability and those claws, it wouldn't be hard for him to deflect a number of their weapons. However, what really concerned him was what he could've inherited from his parents. Amazons took far longer to incapacitate than normal humans, Nightmare would have a natural immunity to sedatives and other drugs—that was proven by the fact he'd been hit with high dosages of sedatives when the Team went to rescue him and still managed to sprint almost six miles away afterwards. And, with Wonder Woman being his mother, there was the possibility that Nightmare could develop other powers, such as he did with flight and super-strength. Furthermore, there was the issue of Onyx's father, who himself was most definitely _not_ human. There was no telling what he could have inherited from him.

The League was fortunate to find him first.

Yet, even with these matches that still left one hybrid, the leader. She was dangerous, perhaps even more dangerous than Nightmare. Unlike him, she could turn invisible, and not just in the visible spectrum, but the thermal one as well. Batman had only heard of one dinosaur capable of that. Those traits had been in the report after the tragic disaster at Jurassic World several years ago; traits the Indominus Rex had used to escape its enclosure and trap the ACU squadrons. She could essentially sneak up and ambush any member of the team and they wouldn't know until it was almost literally too late. And furthermore, like the others, there could be extra powers hidden in there. They knew next to nothing about these other hybrids, other than reported abilities, appearances, and dinosaur species. Their parents could be hero, villain, or both.

Now he just needed to get through the blacked-out files to reach his answers, and hopefully, find out more about them before the Team encountered them again.

-.-

**Themiscyrian Embassy**

"God, there were so many inaccuracies in that it wasn't funny," Onyx huffed flopping back on the couch.

Diana chuckled, running her fingers through his dark locks. "Really? You're telling me you didn't enjoy even one minute of it?"

He went quiet, the tip of his tail twitching. "Well…just because it wasn't accurate doesn't mean I have to hate it."

"Then, are you up for watching another one?" she asked grabbing the remote.

"Another dinosaur movie? What else could there be? I don't imagine there's much?"

"Well…dinosaur movies aren't particularly common, but I do know a few movies that they appear in," she answered. "I have a feeling you'll like this movie."

"What is it?" he asked sitting up. As he moved, his tail shifted knocking a picture frame off the coffee table. The teen jumped as glass broke, and he bit his lip, reaching down and picking up the photo before handing it to her with a lowered head. "S-Sorry."

"It's fine," she reassured gently taking the picture, "it was an accident." The corners of her mouth turned up sadly at the sight of her old friends in WWI. Guess she'd need to order a new frame for the photo.

Onyx cautiously peered over her shoulder, scrutinizing the photo. "Who…" he cleared his throat, "Who are they?"

"They were the first people I met when I left Themiscyra to find Ares back in the first world war," she started. "This," she pointed to the man in the kilt, "was Charlie. He was our sniper, but he had PTSD. However, he was a wonderful singer. I wish you could've heard him sing."

"How'd you meet him?"

"Well, one of my friends was gathering his team together for us to do a mission to stop Ares, who'd been manipulating the war the entire time. I officially met him when he was in the middle of a barfight."

"…Wow."

Diana chuckled, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "And this, was Chief," she continued. "We met him on the other side. He was a smuggler, he was our tracker and devised the system of smoke signals for us to tell each other where we were. He was a very quiet man. But he could teach you a few things about cooking."

"I'm not that bad," he whined.

"You ate all of our steak raw."

Her son shrugged innocently, "I was hungry."

"Mm-hmm, sure," Diana smiled, as her gaze turned to a short Arabic man in the photo. "Do you want me to continue?" Onyx nodded and she motioned to the next person. "Meet Sameer, he was the first person I was introduced to when we started to get everyone together. He was a linguist and our undercover man. Though, I still say he spent more time flirting than working. When I first told him about home, he asked how to find it."

"Seriously?"

"He wanted to be the only man among what he called 'hotties'," she answered.

"They would've killed him," he deadpanned and Diana snorted.

"That they would've."

"Who is this?" Onyx asked pointing to the final man in the picture, Steve Trevor.

"That, Onyx, was the person I would've wanted you to meet most. He taught me that humans, as imperfect and prone to mistakes as they are, are still worth protecting."

"Really?"

She nodded, "Yes. His name was Steve Trevor, and he was the first man I ever loved."

Onyx set his head on her shoulder, "What happened to him?"

Diana sighed, giving her son's shoulder a small squeeze, "He sacrificed himself to save millions of others. Dr. Poison had developed a gas that gas masks couldn't work against. She intended to release it in London in dozens of other cities. So, Steve hijacked the plane and blew it up in the air."

She felt Nightmare give her a small nuzzle with a deep purr, clearly expressing a raptor form of comfort. "I'm sorry," he apologized giving her a one-armed hug.

Diana smiled at that, while he may not have been his biological father, it was moments like this she could see Steve in him. He had Steve's kindness, his respect, his levelheadedness in tough situations, and dare she say he even had her former love's smile. Steve would've loved Onyx, despite his differences…he would've been such a wonderful father. "You know, you remind me a lot of him."

"I do?"

"You act a lot like he did," she said, "I see a lot of him in you."

"…Is he my father?"

Diana looked down, "No, I wish he was, he would've loved you. He probably would've given you a normal name, like Brandon, or James, or something equally boring."

There was a small laugh from next to her, "What would you have named me?"

Diana contemplated that for a moment, ever since she learned his name she tossed aside any ideas about names. "Well, I would've probably named you after the great hunter Orion…or I would've named you after Steve."

Onyx sat up, looking around nervously. "So…if he's not my father…?"

"Don't worry about it," she said setting her hand on the top of his head, "he may not be someone I would've chosen, but that says nothing about _you_." Diana pulled him back into a hug, "You're still that scared little hunter I found in the woods."

"I wasn't scared!" he protested, squirming slightly.

"Sure you weren't," she chuckled ruffling his hair, "And I'm guessing you're not little either?"

"I'm not!"

"Tell me that when you're taller than I am."

Onyx pouted, the tip of his tail flicking in an expression of his annoyance. "I'm not that short."

"No," Diana chuckled, "but you still have a lot of growing to do."

"How long will that take?"

"Well, from what I understand, you should stop growing when you're in your twenties and right now you're…" she trailed off. How old was Onyx? He had to be somewhere just around Dick's age.

"Fourteen," he supplied.

Thank the gods at least one of them knew. "See, so you still have a while," she said. "Though, speaking of your age, we need to know when your birthday is—or at least decide on a day if you don't know."

The teen tilted his head, brows furrowing. "Birthday?"

"Well, a birthday is the day you were born, the day you took your first breath of life in the world," she clarified. "So every year on that day you turn a year older."

"Oh!" he perked up. "Well, when humans were on the island, my caretaker, she always me a treat on…" he tapped his chin, "July twelfth…I think. Even if I misbehaved, said it was a special day."

Diana smiled, while she wasn't fond of the people who kept Onyx imprisoned on the island, she would at least be grateful that this _Caretaker_ had at least taken the time to show him basic human decency. "Ok, and did she tell you how old you were?" He nodded. "Ok, what age did she tell you last?"

"Um…eleven. That was two days before I escaped."

She nodded, so adding the three years he'd been on the island, Onyx was fourteen. Thank the gods, she wouldn't need to teach him to drive anytime soon. Though…considering now that he could fly maybe she'd luck out of teaching him—oh, wait…the jet.

"Diana?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked down and smiled, "Well, seems we just missed your fourteenth birthday. What do you say to having a small celebration? At least getting some cake and ice cream?"

Onyx perked up, his tail swinging upwards, "Really?!"

"I'll send Aria to get some!" she said hopping off the couch. "Stay here!"


	22. Misplaced Aggression

Chapter 21

**A/N: hey everyone! I'm back with the next chapter! Glad to see y'all're enjoying it so far, I know I'm having a blast writing it and my other stories!**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**D.C., October 23, 10:15EST**

"Do I have to go?" Onyx whined slowly flying behind Diana.

"Yes," she repeated leading the way to his new school.

"Why? Don't most royals get homeschooled, or at least to go school in their own countries?"

"Actually many send them to boarding school so—like you—they can make connections," she corrected. "And, like it or not, you're going to be a public and political figure."

"Ok, but why here?"

"This place is highly recommended by my friends in the U.N. and the other Ambassadors I speak to on a regular basis."

"So…it's a boarding school?" he questioned.

"Yes, but since you live here in D.C. you can go home," she replied, "a lot of the diplomats' and congressmen's kids do that." She had to chuckle to herself as his exasperated growl came from behind; he definitely was her son: loved battle, hated classes.

Looking down, she could see the trees clear as the grounds of the private institution appeared. It was large, consisting of multiple grey buildings: two similar buildings side by side standing about three stories, probably the student dorms; a large manor-like building which probably had to be the main school, and a few other facilities.

"Remember how to land?" she teased, and Onyx gave her an annoyed glare. It had taken him over a week to completely figure out flying, but he'd gotten it down…landing was another story.

"Yes."

"Good, no craters," she ordered beginning her descent. A red and black blur almost fell past a split second later. There was a slightly startled yelp from a guard below as he barely avoided getting flattened under Onyx's powerful landing.

"MY BAD!"

"Great first impression."

Black and red hair spiked up before flattening as Onyx turned around, nervously rubbing his head. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

"Of course you didn't," she deadpanned. Her head turned to the guard who scrambled to his feet, getting to attention. "Where's the main office?"

"Uh—um…this way," he stuttered pointing to the main building. Following the guard, she strode after him, Onyx reluctantly trailing after. Classes had already started, so they fortunately didn't have students gawking at them. The man opened the door, and the receptionist stood up wearing a wide smile.

"Oh! Wonder Woman—err, I mean, Princess Diana," she greeted shaking her hand a tad over enthusiastically, "and you must be Prince Onyx, the famous protégé Nightmare. We are so happy to have you be part of our educational family. Have a seat, and I'll let the Principal know you're here, she's very excited to meet you!"

Sitting down, Onyx's tail began to nervously tap. He'd gotten mixed reviews about school from his friends and he wasn't really sure what to believe. M'gann loved it and said it was amazing and fun, just like some show she saw. Conner just shrugged, and said it was alright, but boring. Wally hated it with a burning passion. Robin said some classes were cool, others sucked, and there was a lot of homework. And Artemis said that private schools were full of stuck up rich kids and that school was terrible.

He wasn't sure who he wanted or needed to believe.

"Princess Diana, Prince Onyx," a tall woman in glasses said entering with a huge smile shaking their hands eagerly, "I'm Principal Tyrrel, we're all so excited to have you here. I have your class schedule right here," she handed him a piece of paper. "Now, since you're going into the middle school, you'll have an ABC Schedule. On A days you'll go to the first four classes on your schedule. On B days you'll go to the second half. And on C days, you'll go to all of your classes. Your teachers will provide your materials. Would you like tour?"

"That'd be great," Diana smiled.

"Great! Follow me! Now this hall leads to the middle school and…"

Onyx gave a groan as he reluctantly rose from his seat to follow Diana and the principal. Trailing after he half-listened as the woman continued to talk about the school as they strode through. He could peer in various classrooms, seeing students in matching uniforms sitting in desks working or taking notes as a teacher lectured.

"These are the science labs," Principal Tyrrel said stopping by a door and Onyx peered in. Gold eyes widened, this was in a school? It looked like a real lab. "This is where you'll take your science classes Prince Onyx. We believe hands on learning makes things easier to understand, so many of the lectures involve state of the art experiments and tests. Now, since you have such high science and math scores, you'll be taking the high school courses."

"Cool," he shrugged.

Tyrrel gave him another smile, and she motioned with her hand, leading them up the stairs to another hall. "This is where you'll have your English and other language classes. Now," she grabbed his schedule, "you have AP English, but you'll be taking beginner German, and Chinese with the 6th graders." She grimaced, glancing between him and Diana, almost nervous that either one of them was going to lash out in anger.

"It's fine, we didn't start him early enough," Diana reassured.

The woman visibly relaxed, her wide grin returning. "Come with me, I'll show you the math and history areas." Leading the way, she turned down a hall, and motioned to the rooms, "These are the Social Studies rooms: history, psychology, sociology, you get the picture." She stepped down the stairs, and they followed her down the art hall and across the foyer down the opposing hall. This is the high school that you'll be attending in a year's time. Now, as you know, you'll be taking your science classes in the school's labs—easier to control if they're all kept in one place. Your math class will be down this hall, now, you'll be taking…Calculus. Hard class, but I'm sure you'll have it down."

Peering into the class, Onyx gulped slightly, oh God…math. He hated math; he may've been decent at it, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"It says here he has PE?" Diana questioned grabbing his schedule raising an eyebrow.

"We figured that Prince Onyx would be under a training regiment in order to keep him fit for hero work, speaking of which, since you do that a school uniform won't be required since we won't know when you need to be called on duty and your teachers have been told to make exceptions if you need to miss a class or leave," she replied. "As for his physical training, if you want we can replace that with a study hall if you think he's getting more than enough."

"A study hall would be better, this way he can get work done there and be ready for training when he gets home," Diana said.

"Alright, I'll fix that when we get back up to the office," Principal Tyrrel nodded taking the schedule as a bell rang. Following the principal, Onyx felt his hair bristle as eyes began to turn to them. Students began to pull out their phones, taking video and pictures, calling their parents or friends, whispering to each other excitedly. "Now, since we know the emergencies of being a hero, any homework you miss will be sent directly to your email and they can record their lessons for you. Just in case you're injured and are unable to come to class."

She lead them through the sea of awestruck fans to the lunchroom that was already full of students in line to get what had to be the piece of heaven Onyx was smelling from the other side of the room coming from the series of open windows with a chef yelling at people as students made their orders.

"This is our cafeteria. Lunch lasts from eleven-thirty to one, and we have renowned cooks from around the world. You simply order whatever you want: an appetizer and an entrée. Is there any dietary needs we need to be concerned about? Gluten? Carbs?"

"Fruits and vegetables mostly," Diana replied. "He can eat some just not a lot…"

Onyx tuned out, he knew what he could and couldn't eat. Walking around the edge of the room, he cautiously eyed the eating students, raising a brow when he saw one of them eating a pizza with a fork and knife.

Political and rich people were weird.

"You're Nightmare! Wonder Woman's sidekick!"

Glancing down, his gaze met sets of grey and brown eyes. "Uh…hi?"

"I'm Prince Gregor of Markovia! This is my little brother Brion!" the grey eyed boy spoke.

"I'm not little! We're the same age dummy!" the brunette snapped pushing his brother forcing Onyx to push them apart before a fight could break out.

"I'm still sixteen minutes older!" Gregor teased blowing a raspberry.

"Is this normal for you two?"

"Unfortunately," a female voice spoke, turning he came face to face with a short Asian girl, "they're fights are almost legendary around here." She held out a hand, "I'm Asami Gamorra, my father is Kaizen Gamorra, the North Rhelasian ambassador to the USA. You must be Prince Onyx of Themiscyra."

"That's me," he said taking her hand.

"Well, if you're anything like your mother you have to be good at peace talks," she said, motioning to the fighting twins. "I don't know why they let ten-year-olds here."

"We're almost eleven!" they protested.

Asami scoffed, "And yet you two act like you're five."

"Ok, how about we all calm down," Onyx interjected stepping between them.

"But she insulted us!" Brion growled.

Onyx raised a brow, "That may be, but that doesn't mean you should do the same," he turned to Asami, "please. There's no need to insult them."

She pursed her lips, flipping her hair, "I wouldn't if they would act like what they are: royalty. You'd expect them to show a little more decorum."

"I don't think there's any ten-year-old boy in existence that has a shred of decorum," Onyx deadpanned. "I sure didn't."

Asami gaped, "W-What? But your Princess Diana's son, the woman is the Ambassador of Peace, surely you had to have some!"

"Still don't."

"Boys!" she hissed whirling and stomping away towards the lunch line.

"Thanks for doing that," one of the twins said.

"Is she always like that to you?" Onyx asked putting his hands on his hips.

The brunette twin shrugged, "Yeah, but we just ignore her."

"We can act properly when we want to," the other continued, "but we don't see the need here. It's so boring."

"But maybe not as much now that you're here!" Brion grinned. "We get to go to school with a superhero! How cool is that?! Have you met Superman?! What about Batman?! What're all of your powers?! Can you really fly?! Do you get to go backstage in the Hall of Justice?! What's the craziest mission you've ever done?! Did you fight those giant plants the Injustice League had?!"

"Well, I'm glad to see you're already making friends." Turning Onyx flushed as his mother walked up with the principal, causing the two boys to stop pestering and gape at the heroine. "Well Onyx, are you going to introduce me?"

"This is Prince Gregor and Prince Brion of Markovia," he grumbled turning to the boys again. "This is my mother, Wonder Woman."

She chuckled as the two boys stared up at her with owlish eyes. "You can call me Diana," she greeted kneeling down and holding out a hand.

"You're pretty."

Wonder Woman gave an amused smile, chuckling as they shook hands. "Well, it's nice to meet you too Prince Gregor, thank you for the compliment."

"How do I become as badass as you?" Brion questioned immediately.

Principal Terryl looked aghast as Diana held back a shocked laugh from the boy's language. "Um…well, it took years of training for me to become what I am today."

Brion pouted, glaring at the floor in thought before looking back up. "Can you teach me?"

Onyx felt a hand rest on his head, ruffling his hair as Wonder Woman stood up, "I currently have my hands full with this guy. But maybe one day I could come in and teach a self-defense course?"

"Oh, that'd be wonderful! I'm sure the other parents would find that as a huge relief," she smiled. "Shall we order food?"

"Thank God, I'm starving!" Onyx cheered speeding towards the line. Skidding to a stop, he anxiously tapped his foot against the floor. He just had to endure this for a little while longer. Once they finished the tour, fixed his schedule, and grabbed his books he could go home and hang out for a little while before going to the Cave.

Or at least try to come up with something to cheer his friends up.

They had all been so gloomy since the failsafe exercise and he didn't really understand why. Diana told him it was because they went through something traumatic; watching their friends die and dying themselves. He guessed he understood the trauma of dying himself, it sounded traumatic. But…the death of his friends, wasn't that to be expected in this line of work? He'd had friends die in front of him before. The way he recovered was grieving and remembering the good; why did they not do that? Besides, it wasn't like any of them were really dead. Surely a good group bonding session would help?

"What're you thinking about?" a pesky, but growing infuriatingly familiar voice questioned.

Glancing down, he saw Gregor and Brion looking up at him with wide eyes as Diana and Terryl spoke behind them. "Just stuff."

Brion's face scrunched up, looking annoyed. "What stuff?"

"Brion!" Gregor chided.

"I'm curious!"

He just needed to last a little longer. Then he could go to the Cave. Maybe this time his friends would be better.

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 17:21EDT**

"Recognized: Batman—02, Nightmare—B08."

The light faded away and Nightmare's hair fluffed up in surprise as Batman stood beside him and Tornado, Manhunter, and Captain Marvel stood in the center of the training room observing some monitors.

"How are they?" Batman asked walking forwards.

"I am still shaken by what we wrought," Manhunter replied, "one can only imagine how these youths fair."

"I know our virtual reality simulation went…badly, but I hoped the Team would've rallied by now," Batman spoke almost sounding sad.

"So…they're still not doing well?" Nightmare spoke quietly stepping up behind them.

"No. I don't suppose they've told you anything?" Batman inquired looking at the boy just barely a year older than his own ward.

Onyx shook his head, tail dragging across the ground. "I don't get it. What happened in there? They're all alive, they didn't die; so why are they acting like this?"

"Yes Onyx, but watching those you care about die in front of you tends to leave scars that can't be healed overnight," Batman quietly replied thinking of his own experience, "and sometimes, it never does."

The teen tilted his head, furrowing his brows, "I understand that, living with the raptors taught me that much. But, no one really died, so…why are they like this?"

"Nightmare, they forgot that it was only a simulation," Manhunter spoke up, "they believed the entire event to be real. Not to mention they felt their deaths, the disintegration beams were meant to be painless, but the other ways we didn't anticipate were far less so."

Gold eyes flickered back to the screen scrutinizing every detail. "So why would they not be relieved that it wasn't real?"

"But, it still had the same effects on the mind," Batman spoke.

The teen visibly drooped, his head tilting down, black and red hair obstructing his face. Pale dappled arms, lightly crossed his chest as he wrapped them around himself, appearing to make himself smaller. "…Will they ever be better?"

Batman closed his eyes behind his mask, silently hating the decision he made that day to go through with the failsafe exercise. He wanted to train the Team, make them more ready for any possible situation. The World's Greatest Detective didn't even consider the possibilities of the aftermath if the exercise went awry.

And now, because of his choices: the Team was traumatized, his ward had more mental scars, and the only one who managed to avoid the whole fiasco was being forced to watch his friends' deteriorate before his eyes.

"Black Canary has her work cut out for her."

Onyx pouted and backed away from the adults. Walking towards the garage, he lied down next to Wolf, lazily passing one of the canine's tennis balls between his hands. "Don't suppose anyone's been happy around you?" he mumbled glancing at the mass of white fur lying nearby.

The white wolf lifted his massive head and yawned, setting his head back down on his front paws.

Sighing, Onyx set the ball down and half-heartedly rested his head on his own arms. "Didn't think so. I wish they would all get better. I know I don't really understand why they're like this—I didn't go through what they did, my personal experiences don't come close. In my pack, when someone was sad, we took them for a hunt, or a play flight, or we just cuddled with them till they felt better, and all of us did our best to talk with them to work them through their problems. We handled everything together. But here…packs are meant to support each other when we're at our worst, why is our pack not doing that now?" he looked at Wolf whose ear tilted his direction. "Did your old pack do that to? Do you miss them?" Wolf didn't answer, but Onyx kept talking. "I miss my old pack, they were my family—though, I do love my human family too. I…I just wished they leaned on us and each other for support, instead they just sit there. They'd be better if they did that."

Wolf's head popped up, and Onyx sat up as the white beast stood up, trotting to the garage entrance where a familiar scent began to emanate from. Getting to his own two feet, Onyx's brows shot up as Conner stormed in.

"Conner?"

His fellow clone didn't reply, merely storming over to his bike and hopping on. "Red Tornado, hangar door," he said grabbing his helmet as the door began to open.

Onyx perked up, maybe a good drive—or flight in his case, would at least cheer Conner up. "Can I come with?!" he asked trotting over.

Superboy gave him a sidelong glare, just grunting in reply. Onyx took it as a yes.

Grinning, Onyx began to think of fun things to do while out with his temperamental teammate, find a way to cheer him up. That smile quickly faded to a scowl as Sphere rolled in the way beeping.

"Sphere! Out of the way!" Superboy snapped, waving his arm.

The big metal orb merely continued to whir and beep, before a hiss came out. Sphere split open, revealing a red interior that unfurled into a motorcycle of some kind. Wolf immediately hopped in the front seat, tongue lolling out.

"Guess we'll try that," Superboy muttered hopping on.

"Yes! Let's go!" Onyx cheered flying out. He stopped at the entrance, waiting for his friend to catch up, imagine his surprise when the sphere-bike soared over his head into the air. "That's so cool!"

-.-

"Look, me dying during the exercise might've started things going south, but I was coma-girl. Missed out on all the fun of forgetting it wasn't real. So no trauma, no need for the shrink appointment."

"You're too tough to need help?" Canary spoke, crossing her legs as she examined the girl across from her.

Artemis, crossed her arms, glaring away. "Whatever, maybe."

"Or maybe too tough to admit you need help," she rephrased leaning forwards. "Artemis, it's not a sign of weakness to open up to your friends."

"I know," she ground out.

Canary's gaze softened, she understood why the girl was so untrusting, considering who her family was. It was no surprise that she likely thought that opening up to others was a sign of weakness. "But you still keep secrets from them."

"YOU WON'T TELL THEM! YOU CAN'T!" she exclaimed gripping the arms of her chair harshly.

"I won't," she reassured. "But, you should. You could start by admitting that you aren't really Green Arrow's niece."

"I can't! Do you know what Wally would do with that?!"

"Interesting," she mulled over the new piece of information, "so it seems the person you're most worried about is Wally."

-.-

**Eastern Seaboard, 18:04EDT**

"Seems you finally got a hand on the whole flying thing," Conner commented, finally speaking up as they flew over the ocean.

"Kinda, still working on a lot," he smiled, "landing mostly."

Superboy snorted, seeming amused. "Well then, since you have it mostly down, how about we see what this baby can do?"

Onyx grinned, speeding ahead "RACE YA!"

"YOU'RE ON!"

Flying up, they looped through the air, diving back down towards the water before evening out again as they skimmed over the ocean. Blasting back up into the air, the racing pair began to turn around a bend when something big and grey flew in front of them.

It was followed by the loud clang of Onyx crashing into it.

"Nightmare?!"

"OW!" he complained floating off the infernal block and glaring down at the unwelcome interruption. It was a flying car of some kind, carrying five people: a cowboy, a barbarian, some punk-rocker, an anime cosplayer, and a Princess Peach cosplayer. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"Return the New Genesphere and all the technology you've stolen from New Genesis Earthlings!" the anime cosplayer demanded.

"Who are you?!" Superboy questioned.

The barbarian spoke next, "Let's make this clear, that," he pointed at Sphere, "is ours! Give it back!"

Sphere beeped rapidly as they raised their weapons and Nightmare grabbed his lasso, ready to fight them off. The anime-cosplayer, who appeared to be the leader, stood up, holding out his hands. "Forever People, stand down! They did not steal the New Genesphere! They saved it from the real thieves!"

"Apologizes!" the barbarian spoke with a humongous grin. "The Forever People embrace you as friends, allies, and worthy warriors!"

Conner and Onyx shared a dumbfounded look. "Huh?"

-.-

**Cave**

"I was the general, but behaved like a soldier and sacrificed myself," Kaldur lamented. "I am not worthy for command, and must resign as team leader."

Canary kept her face impassive. That was a concerning statement, one that spoke inner troubles about self-worth. "Who do you recommend to take your place?"

Kaldur looked up for a moment, sighing as his head turned back towards the floor. "Artemis is too raw and untrusting. Kid Flash, too rash and impulsive. Miss Martian remains too eager to please. Superboy carries around too much anger…"

"Narrowing it down to Nightmare and Robin," she finished calmly.

Kaldur shook his head, "Nightmare is trustworthy and loyal to a fault, but I fear he will put the Team before the mission—I am not saying that is a bad thing," he corrected.

"It's just you fear is raptor instincts to protect his 'pack' will override his ability to command a mission no matter the consequences in order to complete it?" she offered leaning forwards. Kaldur nodded, confirming her theory. "So that leaves Robin."

"But he is far too young!"

"Kaldur," she rested a hand on his knee, "you're all young."

"I cannot shift this burden to him. Not yet…It appears I must withdraw my resignation."

-.-

**Metropolis, 18:17EDT**

"Forever people?" Superboy questioned as they flew alongside the group.

"We're young gods," the barbarian spoke. "New gods."

Onyx scowled at that, that didn't coincide with what he believed. And, if it weren't for the fact they were calling themselves gods, he would've been able to tolerate it. People who called themselves gods were always the worst. **"Yeah right," **he snarled under his breath.

"They call me Seriphan," the cowboy said tipping his hat.

The Princess Peach cosplayer stood up, "I'm Dreamer," she motioned to the punk-rocker, "this is Moon Rider," her hand moved to the other cosplayer, "and our leader Vikin."

"Hmm, I am named for an animal that does not exist on this world," the barbarian spoke tapping his chin. "You may call me…Wolf!"

"That's Wolf!" Superboy and Nightmare pointed to the ball of fur in the front of the cycle.

"Oh! Bear then! Bear is even better!"

"I'm Co—Superboy, and this is my friend Nightmare."

"A pleasure to meet you Superboy and Nightmare," Vikin nodded holding up a hand with a box, "This is Mother Box, the living computer."

"A what?"

"She has tracked technology stolen from our home world New Genesis, and she has found our rescue drill, there," he pointed towards the far side of the city.

Flying over, the Forever People circled around a spot, before coming to a stop.

"It is beneath us. Eighteen meters underground."

"That's a construction site," Superboy noticed.

"One that happens to be right across the street from a bank," Nightmare pointed out.

"Convenient."

Getting nothing from the new arrivals, the two boys looked at each other and back at them. "Money!"

The cowboy picked it up faster than the rest, which Nightmare found both shocking and disappointing. "It's a heist!" he grinned pulling out his pistols. "Let's ride in there guns blazin' and round up them outlaws!"

Dreamer at least had the decency to grimace in the wake of her teammate's proclamation. "He's watched a lot of Earth Westerns."

"No kidding."

"Look," Superboy spoke up, "there's a time to go in strong, and a time to go in smart."

"Hey, BC has been rubbin' off on you!" Onyx grinned getting a shrug from Conner.

"It is your world, we shall follow your lead," Vikin said.

Superboy's eyes widened and he looked at Nightmare who just grinned and gave him a playful salute, "Ready for your command el Captain!"

-.-

"Are we sure this is gonna work?" Onyx whispered as he and Superboy peered over the roof of the shed, watching as a disguised Dreamer approached the thugs guarding the drill hole.

"What happened to being ready to follow my command?"

"It's not you I'm worried about."

"Norman! I brought you a jacket!"

"Ma! What're you doing here?!" the lead thug exclaimed walking over to her. Moon Rider jumped out of hiding shocking the two men behind him. The thug turned around, raising his gun, "Ma! Get outta here! It's not…" he trailed off as Dreamer regained her true form and Vikin appeared using whatever power he head to bash the man in the head with his own gun till he was unconscious.

Superboy smirked at Onyx, "You were saying?"

Giving his friend an annoyed growl, Onyx flew over, grabbing a large coil of wire. Dragging the men together he ran around, tying them up. "There, that should do it."

Looking towards the hole, he growled as everyone started jumping in without him. Lifting off the ground, he dove down, flying inches below the roof of the cavern as he chased after. Spotting a drill, he pressed himself behind a rock emerging from the cave roof.

"A billion in boon Ugly. The old creep's equipment worked as advertised," a redheaded woman hissed with a smile.

A larger man walked over with a glowing backpack of sorts on his back, "You tell me Whisper. This score tops any of the ones my old man ever delivered to Intergang."

"Wait!" Superboy hiss below him and Onyx's eyes widened as he spotted Vikin striding out towards the group. Conner growled, clenching his fists as he stormed after, "Guess we decided on the direct approach after all."

"Perfect," Nightmare hissed pulling out his rope.

"That drill and those carts are the property of New Genesis. You will return them, now!"

"Gold goes back too!" Conner added.

"Interfere, and things get ugly."

"I'm Ugly," the large man spoke.

"Yes, yes you are," Nightmare muttered.

His backpack came to life and a cannon formed around the front. Several red disks shot out, flying towards, Conner and Vikin. The New Genesisian raised a barrier of earth, blocking one, but the other four got past, electrocuting him. He collapsed to his knees and Onyx pressed himself to the ceiling as everyone ducked as the plates circled out further before going back towards Bear.

Seriphan fired his guns destroying the devices. Moon Rider came to assist as several flew at the cowboy, but one hit his back, causing him to be enveloped in dirt as the other men activated their weapons.

"These weapons aren't from New Genesis," Dreamer whispered in horror. "They are of The Enemy."

"What enemy?"

"Speak English!"

"The Enemy. The gods of anti-life. These weapons are of Apokolypse."

"Awesome," Nightmare muttered.

-.-

**Cave**

"So, you want me to believe that after everything you went through, including your own death by fiery explosion: you're peachy?" Canary deadpanned raising a skeptical brow at the speedster sitting across from her.

"I'm, uh, fairly certain I never used the word 'peachy'," Wally corrected shoveling another handful of popcorn into his mouth, "but yeah, I think you got the gist."

"So you have no intention of confronting your extreme reaction to Artemis' death?" she asked and Wally immediately sat up choking.

Couching as he sat up, the redhead settled back into his flirtatious demenor. "I'd rather talk about you babe."

"Wally, you're in denial."

"I can live with that."

-.-

**Metropolis**

Bear charged forwards towards the group of men. Two of them activated their backpacks, slamming the arm cannons into the ground. The dirt under Bear liquified, causing the alien to slowly sink into the mud.

Flying out of his hiding spot, Onyx threw his rope, lassoing Bear. Yanking for all it was worth, the barbarian gave a startled cry as he was ripped out of the earth, landing flat on his back as the gold rope dislodged.

"The narrow confines of this chamber favor their weapons," Vikin informed.

"You couldn't have thought about that before provoking them?!" Nightmare questioned.

"We must bring this battle into the open!" Vikin said as he began to retreat.

Superboy dug Moon Rider out of his prison. "Good idea, more room up top!"

Baring his teeth, Nightmare flew back up, grabbing Wolf and dropping him on the ground. Bear vaulted the others up before he and Superboy joined them up top as they began to come up with a battle plan.

"I have no wish to prolong this battle," Vikin said.

The ground to their right burst open as the drill rose out from the ground and the Intergang people followed. "Finish them," Ugly ordered.

"Fear not, she will protect us."

"Dreamer?" Superboy and Nightmare questioned.

"The New Genesphere," Vikin answered as the bike flew overhead, firing down at the attackers below it.

"Cool."

"Wait, Sphere's a she?" they said looking each other.

"It is time."

"Time for what?" Superboy questioned.

"Time of our lives!" Onyx offered throwing his hands in the air as Superboy raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The New Genesisians gathered in a circle, Vikin holding the Mother Box. "TARU!" they all shouted, evaporating in a golden light. When the light faded, a massive robot stood in their place.

"Did that just happen?" Nightmare muttered.

"That's a first."

The men attacked the ground again, but instead of sinking, the machine merely levitated a foot off the ground before firing beams out of its eyes disintegrating the weapons. Ugly fired his disks again, but they stopped midair falling to the ground and the machine raised a hand, sonic waves erupting and blasting Intergang back. Whisper swung her fire whips, which were caught and swiftly evaporated as she was blasted aside.

"Are we even needed here?" Nightmare grumbled getting a shrug from Superboy whose head perked up as he turned.

"They're trying to escape!"

"I'll get one for us to interrogate!"

A golden tube reminiscent of a Zeta Tube appeared in the middle of the field allowing them to escape, seeing Whisper run, Onyx threw his lasso, catching her as it closed before another portal opened, sucking the drill through it.

The machine glowed again, and left the five Forever People.

"What was that?" Superboy said as Onyx landed holding the struggling Whisper.

"Infinity Man," Dreamer answered, "we merged to become part of the Source and greater than the sum of our parts."

"Creepy."

"Glad our team's not that close," Superboy agreed.

"Lower beings tend to fear intimacy," Bear spoke.

**"Lower being my ass!"** Nightmare snarled baring his fangs.

"None of this makes any sense," Vikin interrupted. "How are these humans acquiring technologies from both New Genesis and Apokolypse?"

"Well?" Onyx said nudging Whisper and baring his fangs once more. "Are you going to tell us?"

She gulped at the sight of such razor-sharp fangs so close, but she stood her ground. "I'm not talking."

Dreamer spoke next, "You were not asked." Her eyes flashed light pink and a wisp began to curl from Whispers head. To Onyx's left it condensed and the hybrid's hair fluffed up at the monstrosity that cackled. He wore a red robe of some sort, and his face appeared to be half-melted into his neck. "De'sod."

"Ok, we've been remarkably patient," Superboy spoke up. "What is going on?!"

Dreamers eyes glowed and an image was projected. "The New Gods come from two worlds at war. Those of us from New Genesis are gods of life, freedom, and the Source. Our enemies are Apocalypse; or gods of anti-life, slavery, and degradation," she turned back to the creepy dude, "This, is De'sod. God scientist and chief torturer of Apocalypse. His experiments are pure evil, his works abominations, and his master—"

"Unspeakable," the projection hissed, grinning with a slight cackle as he dissolved.

"He is seriously creepy," Whisper shivered

-.-

**Cave**

"Hurting? Try traumatized," Robin said. "I finally become leader and I end up sending all of my friends to their deaths. I—I know I did what I had to, but I hated it. When we started this team I was desperate to be in charge. Not anymore. And now, that's not even the worst of it…" he slumped. Robin's shoulders trembled and he nervously looked up at her. "Will…Will you tell Batman?"

She shook her head, "Not unless you want me to."

"I don't."

Canary nodded, noticing the relief on the small boy's face. "Nothing leaves this room then."

"I…I always wanted—expected to grow up and—and become him," Robin started looking up at her. "And the hero bit, I'm still all in. But that _thing_ inside of him, the _thing_ that drives him to sacrifice _everything_ for the sake of the mission…that's not…that's not me. I…I don't want to be _the Batman_ anymore."

-.-

**Metropolis Airfield**

"Mother Box says there's a cache of Apokolyptian technology inside."

"Infrared shows no heat signatures," Superboy informed, "Nightmare you got any?"

Sliding his third eyelid out, Nightmare gazed inside. He didn't see anything, but his nose said the scent was still fresh. "No, but the scent's still fresh. We might've just missed them…or…"

"Or it's an ambush," Superboy agreed. "Nightmare, you fly in using a window, vent, something up high. We'll sneak in disguised as the thugs down below."

Nodding to his friend, he flew up, quietly gliding over the roof. Spotting a sunroof, he carefully dug his claws into the metal, prying it open carefully and slinking inside. Floating down, he grabbed onto a support beam and used it to steady himself as he switched back to thermal. The results made him frown.

Still nothing, but the scent was even stronger now. There was no way the strength would be increasing if they were gone, they had to be in here somewhere.

The door creaked open and Nightmare used his free hand to lightly grip his lasso as his team snuck in, walking to the center of the room. Something was wrong.

"There's no heat signatures," Superboy said and the illusion dropped, "they have to be gone."

Around the warehouse, the lights turned on beside him, and Nightmare's eyes widened as Intergang appeared. He was right, they were here! How did he miss them?! There was no way he…the other hybrid girl. She could hide her thermal signature. That's what they did, how they hid from them, they hid their body heat.

"This tech masks heat signatures," Ugly confirmed, "and the visor filters out illusions. We got ya!" The gang began to open fire, blasting the group back. Moon Rider was the first to erupt from the smoke, lightning arched off his hands, hitting one of the men and blasting him up towards Nightmare.

The man grunted as he was grabbed midair, and he yelped as sharp claws sliced the gear off him. spinning around, Onyx hurled him down into the man about to ambush Seriphan. The crash made the cowboy jump, tilting his hat at him with a grin before launching back into battle.

Vikin and Dreamer began to run towards the others, they were probably about to form their weird weapon thing again. "This won't take long!" Bear called.

"Go! We've got it covered!" Superboy called punching a guy back into his friends. Turning for the next opponent, he found Nightmare fighting three men at once. The hybrid clone, grabbed a punch, swinging the man over his shoulder and onto the second guy. Jumping up, Conner could hear the harsh crack of his boot impacting the third man's face as he gave a spin kick, his tail giving a second hit shortly after. Landing on his feet, the hybrid picked up the two downed men, hurling them into their stumbling comrade. "Or you have it covered."

"You had the other guys," Nightmare grinned as the room was enveloped in gold light.

What concerned them was when it turned red. The light faded and Infinity Man stood there, looking different. Instead of gold he was red, and both boys could agree there seemed something ominous about him now.

"That can't be good."

"Kill the boy with the S-shield, and the little dog too," De'sod almost purred.

Infinity Man began reaching out and remembering last time, Nightmare grabbed Superboy and they shot towards the hangar doors. But they weren't fast enough. The blast hit them, knocking them through the thick metal doors and onto the tarmac.

"This isn't how I expected today to go," Nightmare said patting his smoking hair.

"How were you expecting it?" Superboy asked raising his fists.

"You know, peaceful flight, maybe a short hunt, some video games back at the Cave," he shrugged. "You know, something to cheer everyone up."

Superboy nodded, "That sounds a lot better than this." Sphere beeped behind them, turning back into her ball form and Conner grinned. "Together then!" The ball rolled away, taking their spirits with her. "You know, I don't blame her."

"Neither do I. This sucks."

-.-

**Cave**

"This is all my fault. Hello Megan," she said mockingly smacking his own head, "who else could take a simple exercise and turn it into a nightmare that terrorizes everyone she cares about."

Green skin faded to white and Canary's brows shot up. That was…an odd reaction. "You've turned white."

M'gann's eyes widened in horror and she shot to her feet looking at her hands, "No!" She panted for a moment, registering the skin on her before her shoulders drooped, "Oh…you meant Caucasian." She slowly slumped down into her seat looking defeated. "I'm fine being Megan, but I can't be trusted to use my other powers."

Canary's gaze softened, she understood that feeling, what it was like to be afraid of your own power. "M'gann, you're a Martian," she said resting her elbows on her knees, "not using your natural abilities is like me refusing to speak. Which, by the way, I tried for a while after my first Canary Cry almost deafened my entire first grade class. So I get how you feel. But, not being yourself, is _never_ the answer. It won't make your feelings of guilt go away. Learn from what happened. Your uncle would be happy to train you. Practice until you gain control and regain your confidence."

-.-

**Metropolis Airport**

Nightmare dove under Superboy as his teammate was blasted back over his head with a cry and slammed into one of the jets. Flying at full speed, he dove around a punch, grabbing his lasso and looping it around Infinity Man's head. The teen dropped to the ground at full speed, a crater forming from his impact and he pulled.

The corrupted robot's joints groaned as it fell back to the ground, and Onyx flew out of the way, landing by Superboy as he ran back over. "Nice one!"

"Thanks, but I don't think that'll stop him for long," Nightmare replied. The ground rumbled and both grimaced as he started to get back up.

"I'll distract him," Superboy said ripping off a wing, "you get ready for another hit from above."

Nodding, Nightmare took off into the air, high above the airfield. Below he could see a blast as the wing Conner was using blew up. Then, to his horror, Infinity Man lifted the plane and slammed it on his friend. **"NO!" **

Shooting back down, Nightmare's fist hit the machine's arm hard enough for a visible shockwave to appear. The robotic arm jerked, and Superboy grunted, holding his ribs as he landed on his knees. Nightmare roared as he flew towards Infinity Man's head; Superboy could almost swear his eyes were glowing red.

He was swatted out of the air, slamming down almost on top of Conner.

Superboy grabbed his arm, helping him up. "You ok?"

"No. You?"

"Same," he grunted.

A shadow covered them and both paled as they saw the great machine raising both of its fists in an intent to crush them. And neither of them were confident enough that they'd have the strength to stop him.

It was Sphere who ended up saving their butts.

She fearlessly rolled in out of nowhere, practically leaping up Infinity Man before transforming and latching onto his head. The red color began to fade back to the original shades, and a steering wheel appeared on top.

"YOU COULD'VE DONE THAT THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Nightmare hollered as Superboy grinned.

"Sphere you're beautiful!" The Kryptonian clone leapt off the ground and onto the weapon, "I call driving!"

"OPEN FIRE!" Ugly shouted.

Superboy used one of the massive arms to block the incoming attacks, with the other, he stretched it out blasting them back.

Feeling something tap his shoulder, Ugly yelped as he saw the hybrid, who quickly grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Flying high into the air, the man felt his stomach drop from under him as he began to fall. A blast hit his back, bouncing him up into the air and he grunted as he slammed on Infinity Man's palm.

"Now that's ugly," Superboy smirked.

The men below cried out as Nightmare dragged them back using his lasso. Firing a blast Conner smiled as the weapons disintegrated, leaving the men alive. "Think I'm starting to get the hang of this!"

"De'sod!" Ugly groaned and both turned to see the man standing in front of a boomtube.

"I have more important matters to focus on than you. Mostly regarding my Master's _investment_," he growled jumping back through the portal and throwing something.

Firing the lasers, the resulting blast blinded them and they all woke up on the ground groaning. "Sphere!" Superboy called and Nightmare scrambled to his feet stopping in shock. The poor AI bike was leaking fluids, some of her delicate wires torn and sparking.

"Oh no."

"The damage may be beyond repair," Vikin said setting Mother Box on the shell, "but Mother Box will try." Sphere's sytems creaked and clicked together as she changed shape, returning to her original form. "The healing process has begun, and will be completed on New Genesis."

"Sorry What?" they both said looking at him.

"We thank both of you for your help, Superboy and Nightmare," Dreamer spoke, "but we must take the New Genesphere home now."

"No! No way!" Conner protested.

Onyx bared his fangs and growled his assent. There was no way he'd let them take away something a member of his pack cared about so much. If his brother considered her family, then she was family.

"Why should we leave her with you?" Seriphan scoffed, "To us she lives. To you, she's a machine."

"No! It's not like that!"

"Then what is it?!"

"WE BONDED OK?!" Superboy snapped placing a hand protectively over her shell.

Instead of getting mad, the Forever People merely smiled amongst themselves. "In fact, it is," Vikin said holding out a hand. "You may keep her."

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 20:23EDT**

"Hey Onyx," Conner said as they walked out of the debriefing, "thanks for having my back out there."

"No problem, I wasn't going to leave you to wallow in your own misery."

"I wasn't wallowing!"

The smaller teen merely smiled, "You sure about that?"

He crossed his arms glaring down at the little punk, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Nightmare's smile only grew, "Is it working?"

Conner smiled, ruffling the hybrid's hair. "I'll give you this one," he yielded.

"Good, I had fun today, it was crazy, but it was fun."

Superboy nodded, "Heavy on the crazy. But it did help me cool off."

The small boy's smile faded, morphing into a look of concern, "I know it's not my place to ask…why were you so angry earlier?" He raised his hands defensively. "You don't have to answer if you don't want. It's not my place."

Conner sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. He supposed if anyone would understand what he felt it would be Onyx. They were both clones created for something they had no say in. "Well…do you ever feel like you're nothing more than what the people who made you wanted you to be?"

He nodded, "I used to."

"How'd you stop feeling that way?"

"It took time, but I focused on what I wanted for myself. And, eventually, I broke free of the chains holding me back…literally," he chuckled rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't want to be the monster they made me to be…We may be clones Conner, but we're our own people too. We should have a right to do what we want with our lives, not what our creators wanted us to do." Gold eyes took a sidelong glance at him, "Does that help?"

Onyx yelped as he was brought into a bone crushing hug from Superboy. "More than you know." Letting him go, Conner patted his shoulder looking like something heavy had been taken off his shoulders. "Thanks for that. I'll see you tomorrow. I need to go talk to someone."

**A/N: holy crap, that chapter was long. Anyways, I hope all've y'all enjoyed it as much as I obviously enjoyed writing it. And I will see y'all next chapter!**


	23. Trick or Treat

Chapter 22

**A/N: hey guys I'm back with the next chapter in the story of our favorite hybrid and the Team. Remember, I just own my OCs and the story, I don't own Young Justice or the Jurassic Park franchise. And I hope all've y'all have a Spooky Halloween!**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**T****_elepathy/flashbacks_**

**_/_****comms/**

**D.C. 19:23EDT October 31**

"HOW DOES IT LOOK?!" Onyx shouted bounding into the room in a giant carboard velociraptor with giant googly eyes.

"Hold still, we still need to finish painting it," Iris scolded adding the final details to the green stripes.

"Sorry! I'm just so excited! This is my first Halloween!"

"Wouldn't it just be easier to go as yourself?" Aria chuckled adjusting the head making sure the teen could see. "You're not going to your school, I'm sure it'd pass as a costume, you're quite the popular protégé."

"But I'm always myself. I want to be something different!"

"So a googly-eyed velociraptor is something different?" Diana chuckled.

"Yes!"

"All done!"

"Awesome!" Onyx cheered, bouncing around looking both ridiculous and adorable as he got the hang of moving around in the suit. The bouncing eyes stopped and they heard a startled yelp, "Is that that time! I'm gonna be late! Thanks for the help, I'll be safe, bye!"

And just like that the teen was out the door sprinting for the nearest Zeta tube.

The women began chuckling to themselves. "Please tell me that's on video."

"It's on video."

"Our little brother is too cute."

"I know, Diana, can we keep him this age forever?"

"I wish."

"Let's find a way sisters!"

-.-

**Mt. Justice 19:31EDT**

Wally howled loudly in the cave by Wolf as he stood nearby in his werewolf costume. Not seeing the mass of white fur even twitch, he stopped looking down, "Really? You're not gonna join in at all? What kind of wolf are you?"

"Wally stop torturing him!" Conner chided.

"Hold still," M'gann said as she continued to wrap bandages around him.

"Megan stop torturing him," Wally repeated joining them. "By the way, it's kinda awkward having him be a third wheel on our date."

The Martian girl scowled, "Wally. I invited the entire team to the dance; Zatanna too."

"Good, keeps us on the down low," Wally smirked as Conner rolled his eyes. "So, you going as my favorite Martian?"

"Not exactly," she said walking away. Turning around she transformed into her costume, the Corpse Bride

"Whoa, babe, you can eat my brains any time."

"Great minds think alike," Captain Marvel said walking up wearing his own zombie make-up.

"Captain, you look terrific. Are you going to a Halloween party too?"

The hero raised a brow. "Well sure—er…you did invite the whole team, right?"

"Yeah! We'll all be at the dance! So don't worry about us, go! Have a good time at your party!" M'gann smiled.

"Recognized: Artemis—B07, Zatanna Zatara—A03."

"Hey Zatanna, love your costume," Artemis complemented looking at the girl's witch costume.

"Thanks, your vampire one's cool too," Zatanna smiled. "Oh, Zombie Captain Marvel, that's cool. Is the Justice League having a party too? Dad didn't mention it."

"No! See I…Fine! I'm going trick-or-treating! And I'm not sharing my candy!"

"Recognized: Captain Marvel—15. Nightmare—B08."

"Oh my God," Artemis chuckled as the green and grey dappled giant velociraptor trotted over, the giant eyes bouncing all around.

"Hey guys!" Onyx's excitable voice came from inside. "Sorry I'm late!"

"That's adorable Nightmare," Zatanna laughed lightly.

"Oh…it wasn't meant to be cute."

Artemis snorted, "You kinda lost the scare factor the moment you added those big ass googly-eyes."

"Oh…too late now," the two velociraptor arms shrugged.

Giggling could be heard from across the room and Zatanna raised a brow as she saw Conner and Megan flirting. "So, how long have Superboy and Miss Martian been a couple?"

"A while/They aren't a couple," Nightmare and Artemis spoke.

"Wait, what?" Artemis said looking at the carboard-clad teen.

"Uh…I'm gonna be over there!" Onyx winced running away as fast as his costume would allow; which currently, was not very fast. Fortunately, Artemis chose to let him go, rather than beat the information out of him.

"Onyx, can you see out of that?" Conner chuckled as he watched the giant costume trot over.

"Kinda. Depends on how loose the head gets."

"Let us help fix that," M'gann said as she adjusted the head. "That better?"

"Yep! I am ready for the Party of Halloween!"

-.-

**Happy Harbor High School, 20:15EDT**

"Too bad the rest of the Team couldn't make it," Megan said as they walked into the party.

Superboy shrugged, looking around the room before scowling. "You've gotta be kidding me." As far as the eye could see, were different concepts and styles of various Justice Leaguers and other superheroes, he even saw a few of his own team members.

He was brought of his brooding as something bumped into him. "Can't believe what?" Onyx asked and Superboy grabbed him, slowly turning him so he could see the room. "Oooh. Wow."

"You sure you can see outta that?" he asked.

"The head keeps getting loose," he said trying to reach up with his arms only to get stopped by the chest, "and I can't reach it."

Pushing it back down, he got a thumb's up as the dark glass panel went back to where it was supposed to be. "Let me know if it does that again."

"You look amazing!"

"Who did your make-up girl!"

Conner turned to Mal as his classmate followed the gaggle of cheerleaders talking to Megan. "Burn victim?"

"Mummy," he corrected. "What about you?"

Mal smirked, putting his glasses back on, "Superman, done right."

_"No way in a million years would Superman ever be caught in that."_ Conner thought. "Good luck with that."

"I agree with Conner. I don't think the glasses would work with the heat vision," Onyx pointed out.

Superboy smirked, thank you Onyx.

"Wally, Onyx, this is Wendy, Karen, Mal and…" she trailed off at the boy in the Batman costume playing on his phone.

"Ignore Marvin," Wendy informed, "he thinks we're being invaded by Martians."

"I never said that! It's just, reports are all over the internet! And I'm not the only one seeing them!"

"Do you really believe everything you find on the internet?" Onyx asked ignoring people as their phones started going off.

"I mean, Martians aren't invading, it's just a prank gone viral…right?" Marvin shrugged.

"Of course it's a prank," one of the chaperones spoke up, "ever heard of Martian Manhunter? Martians aren't hostile."

"Of course not," Megan agreed.

"Ok, now that we're past that," Karen said pointing to Wally and Onyx. "Which is which?"

"Hello Megan!" she said smacking her forehead. "Wendy, Mal, Karen, meet our friends Wally and Onyx. They went to our old school."

"Hi!" Onyx waved.

"Dude," Mal said looking his costume over, "if it wasn't for the googly-eyes, that would be terrifying."

"Not all of us try to be scary or…how did you put it Mal? Sauvé?" Karen said raising an eyebrow. "I think it looks cool even with the googly-eyes. Took more effort than your costume did."

"Ouch, bandages for that burn can be found on the mummy," Wally snickered.

-.-

**Cave**

"Computer secure the room," Batman said.

"Room secured."

"Now let's cut to the chase: Do we believe there's a mole within the team?"

"I am convinced there is not," Kaldur replied immediately, "when Sportsmaster said he had and inside source, I believe he was only sowing descent."

Robin nodded, "His intel could've easily come by comparing notes with the other villains working for the Injustice League. And think about it, if anyone on the team was a mole…"

"He or she would've betrayed us during our fight against them."

Red Arrow scoffed, "I don't believe that. Sure you two and Kid Flash are above suspicion, but I know Artemis isn't shooting straight. For starters, she's not Green Arrow's niece."

"What?!"

"Well yeah, in fact she's related to—"

"Enough," Batman said resting a hand by his ward, ending his sentence. "Artemis' relations may indeed make her suspect but she's still entitled to a secret identity. I'm more concerned about Superboy, we still know very little about what Cadmus programmed into their weapon. Conner could very well be the mole and not know it."

"What about Miss Martian? She is Manhunter's niece," Red Arrow suggested, "but he told Black Canary he has a few hundred nieces and nephews, the first time he met her was five months ago when she stowed away on his ship to Earth on his last trip from Mars."

"And what of Nightmare?" Red Tornado spoke up. "We know next to nothing of his origins."

"True, but Onyx was created years before the Team was," Batman said, "and his story of the people leaving three years ago checks out. He hadn't had human contact from then until the Ambassador's plane crashed. It's likely that whatever he was created for was already in the works by our enemies long before the mole situation became apparent."

"Nightmare also helped me look for the mole," Aqualad added.

"And you would think if he was the mole, that the bad guys would want him to stay on our side. Not try to repeatedly kidnap him," Robin reminded.

"Ok, so maybe the hybrid can slide," Roy yielded, "odds are the moment he heard of a mole he would've tried to put suspicion onto someone else, not try to evaluate all the options with you. But that still leaves the others."

"This changes nothing," Aqualad continued crossing his arms. "I have fought side by side with these people. None are traitors."

-.-

**Happy Harbor High**

Onyx was having a blast at his first real party, at least till the power went out. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but he was already in a dark costume. So night vision was going to be a little harder. "Who killed the lights?!" Switching to thermal, he could make out the forms of his friends beside him reaching out to locate each other in the darkness.

"Onyx, you doing all right in there?" Conner questioned from the warm figure holding his hand on the cardboard to his left.

"I'm fine. Just…don't wanna run into anything."

"You can't see?"

"I can…just not as good as normal," he replied and there was a grunt which is what he assumed was Conner's understanding.

"Everybody calm down," the chaperone said as the emergency lights came on, slightly illuminating the room, "no need to panic. Probably just a blown fuse."

At that moment everyone's phones began going off.

"Says here Martians have taken New Haven and Providence," Mal said.

"Spotted in Happy Harbor too," Wendy added.

"Guys, it's a Halloween cliché."

"Meaning it happens a lot?" Karen questioned raising a brow.

_"Best prank ever!"_

Prank? Onyx looked around trying to figure out who said that. The voice sounded familiar. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Conner said raising a brow.

The intercom screeched with interference, forcing Conner and Onyx to cover their sensitive ears from the sound. "Attention! Homeland security advises everyone to stay inside the gymnasium! This is not a confirmation of any alien invasion."

The room exploded into chaos as people began yelling.

_"We should call the cave."_

_"Wait,"_ Conner said stepping forwards and narrowing his eyes.

Knowing what he was doing, Onyx followed his gaze, spotting what he had to be looking at. One lone figure, behind the bleachers on the phone.

"For your own safety remain inside."

_"You see that?"_ Onyx asked raising a brow.

_"Yep."_

The pair of them grinned as they turned to their friends.

-.-

_"I love this plan,"_ Onyx grinned as he crouched near the bushes.

_"Remember, your part?"_

_"How can I not?"_

_"Good, I'm going in!"_ Wally smirked running out. "THE MARTIANS ARE COMING! THE MARTIANS ARE COMING!" Wally grabbed Marvin's shoulders and pointed in his direction with a flashlight.

Seeing Marvin jump as the sight of a set of glowing gold eyes, Onyx's grin spread wider and he released a shrill shriek, one that echoed over the area.

"LOOK OUT!" Conner exclaimed rushing out from behind. "THEY HAVE DISINTERGRATION RAYS!"

M'gann aimed the lamp in Wally's direction and he dropped a flash pellet allowing him to spin away in a tornado. At that moment, Miss Martian came out of hiding, releasing a call of her own that Onyx echoed, before running through the bushes to make it look like more were coming out.

"Run Marvin! I'll hold it off!" Conner said pushing him back. charging forwards, he was levitated into the air before getting slammed down to the ground and the side of the school, landing limply at Marvin's feet.

"AHHH!" Marvin screamed running inside.

"Come on, we don't want to miss this," Conner chuckled quickly helping Wally and Onyx get the velociraptor suit back on.

Sneaking back in through another door, they watched as Marvin burst through the doors. "THE MARTIANS ARE INVADING! THE MARTIANS ARE INVADING!"

"Marvin, we get it chill!"

"NO! NO! YOU DON'T GET IT! AT FIRST IT WAS ALL A PRANK! BUT THEN I SAY THEM! THEY KILLED TWO GUYS!"

"Which two guys?" Megan asked.

"THOSE TWO GUYS!" he exclaimed pointing at Conner and Wally.

Onyx turned dramatically, the googly-eyes bouncing. "They don't look dead to me."

"Wait…I…"

"Marvin!"

_"Damn it." _The geek boy smiled nervously and shrugged, "Trick or treat?"

**A/N: ok, I know this chapter is shorter than usual, but since the last chapter was so long I figured a shorter one would be a little better. Anyways, I'll see y'all next time!**


	24. Vanished

Chapter 23

**A/N: yay! Next chapter's up! Whoo! I'll admit, while I should be focusing on my other stories I'm just having too much of a blast writing this one! Once again, I own nothing but my OCs.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashback_**

**D.C.: November 5 19:46EDT**

"The ritual will start soon, I trust you know you mission?" a man wearing a black and orange mask spoke.

"Yes," Rogue nodded, "but how will we know he will be there?"

"Oh, he will be. Just capture him when he arrives. If he proves to be too stubborn, take a hostage until he's unconscious and ready for transport."

"What of the others?"

"They'll handle the other task. You and your team just focus on A1. He _must_ be captured tonight, Savage told me that his father has become aware that his weapon is missing."

Rogue shivered at that, A1's father was definitely not a being you wanted to piss off. Not without forfeiting your life.

-.-

**Mt. Justice**

"What all did Batman order?" Onyx grumbled carrying the box as he and Superboy walked out of the Bioship.

"Too heavy for you small fry?" he smirked.

"Please!" the hybrid scoffed. "I'm just curious as to why he couldn't carry it himself."

Conner rolled his eyes, as they set the boxes down and tying them up.

"Did you get everything on the list?" Batman asked.

"Plus groceries," Miss Martian nodded setting her boxes down.

"Cookies?!" Wally asked.

"Snickerdoodles for you and chocolate chip for Nightmare."

"Babe, you rock my world," Wally said. _"And so many other things too."_

"Cookies?!" he said grabbing his box and ignoring Wally's comments. "Thank you M'gann!"

"Glad you're back Zatanna, does this mean you're officially joining the team?" Artemis asked as the two girls walked out of the elevator.

Zatanna looked at her father and crossed her arms, "I don't know. Zatara is so overprotective. Just getting him to let me visit takes a whole day's worth of wheedling. I just wish he'd give me a little space."

At that moment, the adults fizzled out of existence and the boxes fell to the ground.

"DAD!"

-.-

/We set up a refugee center at the High School gym. Any luck with the—/

"No," Robin replied. "Can't raise the Batcave, Hall of Justice, the Watchtower, or any adult hero. Even Red Arrow."

/Guess we're on our own/

"Hopefully not, Nightmare's checking out Themiscyra, maybe we'll be lucky."

/Rob?/

"Speak of the devil. Anything Nightmare?"

/No. Whole island's deserted/ he answered. /But I need Miss Martian out here in the field. I know most planes have an autopilot, but we need to land them just in case/

Robin hissed through his teeth, he didn't think about that. "I'll deploy Miss M here, you focus on Europe. I'll contact Aqualad down in Atlantis, he can probably get others to help him safely hand those flying over sea as well as ships travelling through. Lastly, I can manually hack the remaining flight plans. It'll be extremely risky, but I don't think we have much of a choice."

/Understood, I'll wrap up here before heading to the next major airway/

"Traditional media's down, but social media sites all around the globe are saying the same thing: every adult, eighteen and older is gone," Zatanna said. "The sorcery necessary to pull this off, scary big."

"And we need you to find its source," Robin said typing.

"How?"

"Here," he said pulling up the video, "this is your dad helping us locate Wotan and the Injustice League last month."

"The words are only part of it. The rest takes training and…Robin, I'm just not on Zatara's level."

"I know it's hard, but try to stay whelmed. We'll find your dad, Batman, all of them," Robin reassured. "It's what we do."

-.-

**Greece**

"God, that was heavy," Nightmare panted crouching on the tarmac. Standing up, he stretched his spine sighing when it popped. "Guess it could be worse…it could be full."

Hearing another plane, he sighed and took off after it.

It was going to be a long night.

-.-

**Happy Harbor**

Wally walked into the gym holding a small toddler. Glancing at Artemis, he saw her entertaining a group of children at a mat. Walking over he smiled as the tiny child handed him his sippy cup, "For me? Thank you."

"Did you call?" Artemis whispered standing up.

"Yeah, no answer."

"You could Zeta there."

Wally shrugged handing the small child to another high schooler. "I've been saving kids all day. I don't want to see another empty house."

"Got three more!" Conner called bursting in with three laughing children crawling on him.

"Good," Artemis said helping him dislodge the ones stuck to him, "how are the others?"

"M'gann, Nightmare, and Aqualad are doing emergency landings of aircraft and boats around the globe. Robin's working on hacking them and landing them remotely, but I don't know how that's going so far."

"Hopefully it goes well," Wally whispered.

-.-

**Gotham**

"Well, Master was right, this place is like the dead," Kuleana smirked as she and the two herbivore hybrids casually walked up the steps of STARR Labs. "I wonder how bad the riots are in the adult world right now?"

"That is of no importance Seaspray," the Ankylosaur hybrid said. "Right now, our mission is getting the piece of that sea star you failed to get in Atlantis."

"I would've had it had Black Manta and Aqualad not gotten in my way!" she snarled whirling on them with bared fangs. "Do remember who outranks you here, Hardshell!"

"Can we get on with the mission?" the third member spoke. "Father will be very displeased with us should we fail again."

"Barbarian's right," Seaspray agreed, "we need to get the sample."

Walking inside, Hardshell went to one of the terminals and began typing quickly. An _Access Denied_ flashed across the screen and he smirked, "As if you can outsmart me." Typing again the red changed to green. "Ok, as of now all security systems are down."

"Good, makes our mission much easier," Barbarian said leading the way. Running down the hall, he charged through the thick steel doors, breaking into the lab.

Walking up to the container holding the regenerating starfish, Kuleana smiled. They got exactly what they needed.

-.-

**D.C. 21:01EDT**

Onyx flew through the city towards his school. He could see his teammates broadcasting on monitors of buildings as he flew by. He'd have to make this quick so he could join them on the mission to stop whatever it was.

He was just lucky Robin found a way to land all those planes. He would've been up there forever otherwise.

Flying over the courtyard, Onyx looked down. No riots, no parties, so far, everything seemed to be going alright and the older students had taken charge.

Good.

Turning around he flew back towards the Hall of Justice. It was closer than the normal Zeta, so he could just get to the Cave right away to help out.

_"Finally."_

A weight slammed into his back and sent him crashing into the ground. Nightmare formed a crater in the sidewalk before he bounced a few times. Getting up, he bared his teeth at the Pteranodon hybrid flying above. "Good. You're here. We were starting to worry."

He faltered a little at that. "We?"

Something swept his legs out from under him and Onyx grunted as a boot slammed on his chest. Glaring up, he growled, baring his fangs at the leader as she stood over him. "Well A1, how convenient that you seem to be here. All alone without the help of your friends," she sneered holding his comm between two fingers tauntingly.

His eyes widened when she crushed it with a smirk. He really was on his own now.

Placing his hands on the ground, Nightmare twisted his body, using a mix of his strength and flight to spin himself and use his tail to slam the girl off him. A Rex's roar echoed over the field and the hero rolled out of the way as the T-Rex hybrid crashed on where he was. The larger boy lunged at him, swinging a fist out to punch him. Grabbing his hand, Onyx spun around and hurled him over his shoulder, slamming him down on the ground for all it was worth.

A boot hit his face from the side, and Nightmare felt blood run down his face as his nose began to bleed. Stumbling back, Onyx didn't have time to raise his arms as the first girl spun around, her wings smacking him across the face and knocking him back.

Getting up, Nightmare wiped the blood from his nose and pulled out his rope. He couldn't lose, he wouldn't. Training always taught him that the battle was never going to be fair. Nightmare just needed to be smarter.

Throwing his lasso towards the Rex, the Pteranodon girl dove down catching the rope in her grasp. Instead of fighting her momentum, Onyx swung with it, moving in the direction she was moving till he collected enough speed to muscle through her resistance on his own. She cried out as she was yanked out of the air and into his fist.

Only he didn't expect her to still be conscious from that. Her legs tangled with his, knocking him to the ground. She rolled on top, her fist coming down towards his face. He grabbed it with his hand, twisting harshly to the side and forcing her to roll off. As she got off, he brought his knee up, kicking her in the gut before using his other leg to kick her in the head.

Nightmare honestly hoped he didn't kill her. But right now, he needed to survive. Rolling to his feet, the breath was knocked out of him as a white tail slammed into him before disappearing from the visible spectrum again.

A battle cry came from behind him. Thank God the T-Rex had no sense of subtlety. Leaning under a punch, Nightmare grabbed his arm and brought it down against his knee. A satisfying snap rang out as the opponent screamed and Onyx used the distraction to slam the back of his left fist into his face. picking him up, Onyx hurled him into a tree, where he fell to the ground.

**"STOP HIDING BEHIND YOUR UNDERLINGS A FIGHT ME!"**

There was an amused purr from somewhere nearby. **"If you say so."** Smoke erupted around him, and Nightmare held his rope wildly watching the smoke around him with a growing horror. He couldn't smell. Whatever was in the smoke, it blinded his senses, so now he couldn't use the only thing he reliably had to find her. Her laugh echoed around tauntingly. **"You're the one who wanted to fight me. I never said I would play fair."**

-.-

**Mt. Justice**

"How desperate are we?" Wally asked as Kaldur entered the trophy room. "I mean, this thing," he motioned to the Helmet of Fate, "could definitely come in handy."

"Yes. But we both know whoever dons the helmet and allows Nabu to possess them may not be released from being Dr. Fate."

"So…not that desperate?"

"Not yet."

"Guys," Zatanna spoke up. "I-I'm ready to try my father's spell."

They gathered in the main room of the base and Robin pulled up a holographic display of the Earth. With a deep breath, Zatanna walked out holding a want. "Etacol eht ecruos fo eht ecnabrutsid."

A red dot appeared on the map. "Coordinates locked: Roanoke Island. You did it."

-.-

**D.C.**

Nightmare shot up into the air. Bringing his lasso back to him, he made the loop bigger and shot down right for her as she began to disappear. Throwing it forwards, he landed a few yards away and pulled. There was a shocked yelp as the lasso grabbed her. Spinning her around, he threw her through the glass doors of the Hall of Justice.

She slid out of the lasso as he flew in. Flipping back as he punched the ground, she broke a glass case, holding the batarangs that were on display. Throwing them at him, he rolled and jumped over them as he charged her. Wrapping her wrists with his rope. He used his tail to block as kick from her as her tail yanked one of his legs out from under him.

Nightmare's grip on the lasso loosened and she flipped over him, wrapping his own rope around his neck. Her panting sounded loud in his ear as his own air was choked off. Flying up, he slammed her into the roof and she let go. Spinning around, he grabbed his lasso, tied it around her wrist and flung her down into the floor, large cracks forming under her.

"Really wish I could've brought you down the fun way," she snarled getting to her feet baring her fangs. Snapping her fingers, Onyx winced as a sharp pain came from his shoulder.

Looking down, his brows furrowed in confusion. A dart? But how? He stumbled slightly, his vision blurring slightly at the edges. Shaking his head, his hand fumbled around the object, yanking it out and tossing it to the ground. He was invulnerable, that shouldn't have been able to…

"But we have a timetable to keep," Rogue wiped her bleeding lip as A1 crumpled to the floor, landing on his hands and knees as he tried to fight the drug coursing through his body. Striding forwards, she crouched next him, grabbing his face and fastening something around it. "Master's gonna be so happy to see you again."

Onyx's eyes widened as he desperately clawed at the muzzle on his face. The indominus hybrid snickered; it was so amusing to watch his panic.

"Sweet dreams." She smirked as his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed. Nodding to Tyrant, the Bialyian telepath, picked him up and slung the limp body over his shoulder. They would restrain him properly when they got to the ship.

And soon A1 would see the Light.

-.-

**Mt. Justice**

Everyone had begun feeling anxious a while ago. Nightmare, who had said he would be there soon, hadn't been answering their hails. In fact, Robin couldn't even locate his signal.

That sent up red flags.

A flash came from behind and they all turned, feeling hopeful that it was their missing comrade. Imagine their confusion and disappointment when it was a kid.

"Who are you? And how did you get in the Cave?" Aqualad demanded.

"Quick Miss Martian! Read my mind!" the boy said.

Her eyes flashed and she jumped. "He's Captain Marvel!"

"And I'm Speedy Gonzales," Wally scoffed. "Look, just because he believes—"

"Geez Wally, do I really have to bring you nachos and pineapple juice to get on your good side?"

Using Captain Marvel, both sides began to set up a plan. "Both dimensions may have enemies we may not be familiar with."

"But the key to this mission is a coordinated, simultaneous attack."

"Agreed. Our best chance against sorcery is to strike fast and disrupt their efforts."

"And hope the two dimensions merge naturally back into one."

-.-

**Roanoke**

Klarion raised a shield as several arrows and explosives shot at him from the shadows. Smirking, he let them drop to the ground. "That's the best you got?" Looking at Artemis and Robin he raised a hand, firing lightning at them.

He glanced to each side of him, smirking as he saw the speedester, the clone, and the Atlantean running towards him. And they all slammed right into his shield.

"Kaerb hguorht sih dleihs!"

Klarion scoffed, "Baby magic." Lifting his hand, he recited a real spell, smirking as the girl went flying through the air. Smiling more as rocks began to pound uselessly against his barrier, Klarion breathed fire at the Martian, forcing her to stop her assault to avoid the flames.

While the Witch Boy was distracted, Wally stopped beside Artemis. "When Fate possessed my body, he hurt Klarion by attacking the cat."

Artemis notched an arrow, "Good. I'm not a big cat person anyways." Firing the arrow, Klarion raised a hand and it turned into a ball of yarn.

Klarion chuckled, "Show them what a familiar to a Lord of Chaos can do Tiekel!"

Before their eyes, the small tabby became a massive saber-toothed lion.

Meanwhile, in the adult dimension, they began their attack sending shockwaves through the gem. Klarion growled as he saw the glowing crystal. "So, you teamed up with the grown ups. Teamwork's so overrated."

Channeling the energy, the lightning came out and slammed into the group of pests. This would end quickly.

Another burst of lightning came, and Billy began to talk as Miss Martian covered his mouth. _"I've linked you up telepathically with the rest of the team."_

_"Cool—er, the gem! The one in the center of the pentagram! Destroy it and we win!"_

"That's all I needed to hear," Zatanna said grabbing the Helmet of Fate.

"ZATANNA!"

"STOP!"

She put on the helmet and Nabu flew into the air. "Klarion. This ends now."

_"Billy tell Zatara!"_

_"Right!"_ he said. "SHAZAM!"

The Lords of Chaos and Order clashed above, everyone else took the chance to start trying to chip their way through the barrier to reach the gem. Dr. Fate flickered revealing Zatanna and Klarion cackled.

"HA! THERE SEE! WITH THE WORLDS DIVIDED THE HELMET'S SPLIT IN TWO! YOU'RE NOT ALL HERE NABU! AND YOU'RE LOSING HOLD ON THAT WEAK, SO TO BE DEAD GIRL!" he grinned madly. "She gave herself up for nothing."

"No Witch Boy," Fate said raising a hand a light began to gather on it. "Fate decrees her sacrifice will not be in vain!" Firing the blast down, combined with the efforts of the team, the barrier gave way and Klarion was trapped in one of Fate's spells.

"Now Kid!"

KF raced out, snatching the gem from its spot and tossing it up in the air towards Fate. Catching it in their hand, Fate began reciting a spell and everything burst in light. When it cleared, all the adults were present.

"Welp, they sure don't make evil, immortal sorcerers like they used to," Klarion huffed snapping his fingers and his prison dissolved. "Oh well. Fun while it lasted. Tiekel!" The cat leapt into his arms. "See you later Armadillos, unless I see you first. Oh and I'll be sure to tell that missing friend of yours hello!"

With a cackle at his ominous words, Klarion leapt through a red portal and vanished.

"Aren't you gonna stop him?" KF asked.

"To what end? Klarion is Chaos incarnate. He cannot be contained."

"FATE!" Zatara screamed. "Great Nabu, release my daughter."

"No. Witnessing the havoc wrought in these hours, the world needs Dr. Fate. And the girl's natural affinity for the mystic arts makes her the perfect host."

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

"SHE HAS HER OWN LIFE!"

"KENT WOULD NEVER ALLOW YOU!" Wally shouted.

"Kent Nelson objected strenuously, so I released his spirit into the afterlife. He is gone."

"Take me instead," Zatara pleaded. "My skills are already at their peak, my body is physically stronger, better able to withstand the strain of your power."

"All true. But if I remove the helmet, what guarantee have I that you will don it?"

"My word. Uban, I evig uoy ym drow."

With a nod, Fate landed and Zatanna removed the helmet. "Dad!"

"Zatanna!" he smiled hugging his daughter one last time. "Remember, I love you." Kissing her forehead, he took the helmet from her hands. "Take care of my girl."

"You have my word," Batman replied.

Zatara lifted the helmet and Zatanna's eyes widened. "NO! PLEASE! THIS WAS MY FAULT! DAD DON'T! DAD!"

There was a flash, and Zatara became Dr. Fate. Turning away from the young magician, he levitated the group of mystic criminals in the air. "Leave this to Fate." Flying away, with a golden light, they were gone.

-.-

**Mt. Justice, November 6, 6:16EDT**

Batman stood silently in one of the living rooms with Black Canary standing nearby as they waited for Diana. Bruce clenched his fists as he remembered the security feeds from the Hall, showing Nightmare being ambushed by the other hybrids and dragged away.

It was obvious it was planned. They knew that after Onyx went to check on his school he'd go right to the closest Zeta Tube. But why the elaborate show? There was something else he was missing, that much he was sure.

But he could handle it later. After he handled a mother who was worried for her child.

"Where is he?" Diana said flying in biting her lip. "Did something happen? Is Onyx hurt? He's not answering my calls. My sisters at the Embassy haven't seen him. Bruce, what's going on?"

He raised a hand and placed it on her shoulder and removed his cowl. "Diana…"

Wonder Woman's breath hitched, "Where's my son, Bruce?"

"Diana calm down," Dinah said stepping forwards.

"No Bruce! Where is he?! WHERE'S MY SON?!"

Sighing, Bruce pressed play on the video. It would be hard to watch, but Diana needed to see it for herself. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she shook with rage as the recording ended. "They fought with no honor," Diana whispered, clenching her fists. "They toyed with him, and then just knocked him out when they were done with their sick games!"

"Diana, we will find him," he reassured.

"How?" she whispered. "We don't know where he is! You've seen the scars, Bruce. How do we know that they're not going to hurt him again?"

"We don't. But we can do our best to find him before that happens," Bruce nodded. Now he needed to figure out how to tell the Team that one of their own was missing, and, likely now, their enemy.

-.-

**Unknown Location**

Onyx hissed as he began to wake up. Everything hurt. Why did everything hurt? Did he fight Clayface again and this time actually end up in the infirmary?

"Well, look who's finally awake."

He did not know that voice. Gold eyes snapped open and Onyx paled. Psimon stood over him, a wide smile on his face as he lightly brushed a lock of hair out of his way. Onyx struggled, finding to his horror that he was bound to the table by his legs, arms, tail, and torso. They even had a muzzle around his face, tightened enough to make the metal dig into the bridge of his nose painfully.

He couldn't fight back.

"Now, now A1. There's no need for that. We can't have you injured further," the psychic spoke, mockingly wiping a tear off. "Besides, soon it won't even matter why you were afraid in the first place.

Oh shit. Onyx did not like what that meant.

"Psimon says," he began resting his hands on either side of his head, _"Forget."_


	25. Renegade

Chapter 24

**A/N: I'm back. So…do y'all hate me? Onyx was starting to develop some good family relationships with his team and then he gets kidnapped, oh what fun! Anyways, as usual, I just own all my wonderful OCs! That's it!**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashback_**

**November 7, Mt. Justice 10:45EST**

"My room's right next door if you need anything," Miss Martian said as they finished moving Zatanna's things to her new room in the cave.

"We're all here for you," Robin added.

"Thanks," the magician smiled, "…Can…can I have some time to myself?"

"Take all the time you need," Megan said ushering the boys out of the room and closing the door to leave her in peace. "I can't imagine what she must be feeling."

"I know," Artemis whispered crossing her arms.

Batman's voice came over the intercom, "Team: Report to the briefing room."

"Should we get Zatanna?" Conner questioned motioning to the closed door.

Robin shook his head, "Let's give her time. We can tell Bats why she's absent, I think he'll understand."

Nodding, they made their way down to the main room, where Batman, Red Tornado, and Black Canary stood waiting for them. "What's going on? Do we have a mission?" Wally asked zooming in.

"No," Black Canary said solemnly.

Conner frowned as Canary shared a glance with Batman, and her heartrate picked up. If it wasn't a mission, or training, why were they here? In fact, he looked between the three; why were they all here?

Batman stepped forwards, likely with the answer. "I'm sure you've noticed that you're one member short?"

"Zatanna?" Robin said raising a brow. "She's getting some much-needed rest."

Batman's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't meaning Zatanna."

Conner looked around, his stomach dropping to the floor. Where was Onyx? Where was the tiny hybrid who told him that he was more than Superman's replacement? Growling, he clenched his fists. If something happened to him… "Where's Onyx?"

"Conner," Canary said stepping forwards holding up her hands, "calm down."

"Did something bad happen?" M'gann said biting her lip.

A holoscreen appeared and a video from the Hall of Justice began to play. They could only stare as Nightmare fought three of the hybrids, _alone_. To their excitement, he beat two, but the third one…he was outmatched.

And Onyx _lost_.

"As of 21:01 last night, Nightmare has been declared MIA," Batman said. "His current location is unknown."

"Where do we start?!" Wally said raising his fists ready for a fight.

"The League will handle this," Batman glared. "Nightmare is now presumed to be a hostile agent—likely not of his own volition."

"WHAT?!" Artemis exclaimed. "HE'S OUR TEAMMATE!"

"Which is precisely why you can't go after him," Batman growled. "It's likely he will be trying to kill you. Do you think you can fight him? The other hybrids? The League will handle this." He turned leaving the room, ignoring the angry glares trailing after him.

-.-

**Unknown Location**

His head hurt. Why? Why did he hurt? What happened?

"A1."

A1? He knew that term…at least, he thought he did. It sounded familiar. The voice's owner smelled familiar. But why? He wished he could think more. His head hurt. His throat hurt. Had he been screaming? He wanted the pain to stop.

"A1. Comply now."

He whined. The voice made his head hurt more. It was loud. He wanted quiet. Quiet was good. Quiet meant he wouldn't hurt.

"Now, now," a female voice purred to the first voice, "no need to be so harsh to the little sweetie."

He froze at that voice, his body starting to tremble as terror began to course through him. He knew that voice, he knew _her _voice.

A hand rested on his cheek and he fought the urge to flinch. He didn't want to be touched by that voice's owner, it meant pain, _she _always meant pain. "Sweetie, it's time to wake up, you don't want to keep us waiting now do you? That would be such a naughty thing to do."

Golden eyes attempted to open and pain exploded through his head and he squeezed his eyes shut. No! No! He would be in trouble if he didn't obey! He had to wake up! Trying again, his eyes watered as pain tore through his skull, trying to split it open against the blinding light. Slamming his eyelids shut again with a cry, he lied there trembling. He _failed_. That meant s_he _would get mad.

To his relief, the hand left his face, "What did you do to him?!"

A new voice spoke, "I merely did what I was ordered to do." This new voice sent fear running through him. Why? Why was he scared? Is that voice the source of his pain?

The thought made him whimper. He didn't want more pain.

"YOU WERE ORDERED NOT TO HARM HIM!" the first voice screamed and there was a loud crash. "DOES HE LOOK ALRIGHT TO YOU, PSIMON?!"

The noise hurt. He wanted the fighting to stop. He wanted the pain to stop. He knew the first voice. Why was it hurting him? He was behaving, he was being good.

"I assure you, sir. He will be fine. He just put up an unusually strong fight," the third voice, Psimon, said. "He'll likely be in pain for a while."

There was the sound of metal scraping against something. "A1 better recover," the feminine voice snarled menacingly, "otherwise, Queen Bee will need a new telepath, because my master, his _father_, will not be as forgiving as I am for damaging his _weapon_."

There was a gulp. "She wouldn't let you. I'm too valuable."

"Please," voice one scoffed, "you know you're replicable now that we have B1. And I've invested too much in A1 to let you go unpunished. Am I clear?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now get out." There was a muffled sound of shuffling before something clicked shut.

He felt relieved, Psimon was gone. The pain hopefully would not come back. Not unless the unknown voice got mad again. He didn't want the voice to get mad.

"Onyx?"

Onyx, he knew that. That was his name. He was Onyx. That meant this person knew him, it was why the smell was familiar. Forcing his eyes open, his gaze focused on a blurred white, pink, and grey form above him.

There was a sigh from the form above him. "I suppose you're going to be out of it for a while dearie. Such a pity, I was hoping to work with you again, my little darling."

"It's no matter, I'm sure you have your ways to…adjust him anyways," the remaining male voice spoke frankly.

There was a laugh that sent chills up his spine, "Oh, I do, but it would be more fun if he were conscious."

Somewhere in the room there was the sound of something being moved and he flinched as a hand held his head, and something clicked into place on whatever was covering his nose and mouth. "I'm sure as much fun as it would be, I'm afraid we can't afford to wait."

The woman gave a sigh, "No, I suppose not, I do have to report the weapon's status to his father. Let's begin."

There was a hiss and Onyx felt air blow against his face. It smelled sweet, sickly sweet. He didn't like it. Squirming, he whined as a hand pressed against his muzzle and the other rested on the top of his head.

"That's enough A1. Behave."

He stiffened. Onyx knew that tone, he _remembered _it. He was supposed to obey when this tone was used. Master was mad. Master was to be obeyed.

Onyx stopped struggling. If Master didn't want him to struggle then he wouldn't.

"That's it, dearie. _Sleep_. Everything will be just fine."

Breathing in the sweet air, he let the safe comfort of unconsciousness take him away from whatever horrors she had waiting.

-.-

**Mt. Justice**

_"We're so not listening to this crap are we?!"_ Wally snarled swinging his arm out as he paced the living room.

Conner crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall. _"Oh hell no! We're getting him outta there!"_

_"Agreed,"_ Kaldur nodded, _"We will get our teammate back. Whatever it takes."_

_"But how?"_ Artemis asked, leaning back on the couch. _"We don't even know where he is. And if Bats is right it's likely he's been brainwashed into believing we're his enemies!"_

_"Then we break their control!"_ Conner snapped, slamming his fist against the wall, cracks forming under the impact. _"You guys did that for me at Cadmus. If those guys have screwed with his head, then M'gann could fix it like she did last time Psimon messed with our heads."_

_"We have to find him first,"_ Robin reminded. "_That hybrid chick destroyed his comm, destroying our only way to track him."_

_"Well, we've started running into them on more missions,"_ Artemis scoffed, _"it doesn't take a genius to realize that we'll be fighting him eventually."_

_"Good! Then we can get our teammate back!"_ Wally agreed.

_"Let's not be rash,"_ Kaldur spoke up. _"Onyx will not be easy to bring down, neither will the other hybrids."_

_"We know that Kaldur!_" Superboy growled. _"We can take them! We have before!"_

_"Uh, we took them with Onyx's help last time,"_ Artemis reminded.

_"Onyx handled the crazy chick. Miss Martian and I got the others. Besides, we know our teammate's fighting style. We should be able to win this,"_ Robin reassured.

-.-

**Unknown Location**

Consciousness did not hurt as much this time. Granted, Onyx would admit that his body felt like he'd been struck by lightning; every nerve of his body lit on fire with each slight movement and some of his muscles seized involuntarily every now and then. However, his head had stopped throbbing with agony at every half-coherent thought.

Opening his eyes, he blinked a few times, trying to focus. He was gazing up at a grey ceiling. Slowly sitting up, he hissed as pain rippled through him. Gold eyes flickered around the room, taking in their environment. The room was relatively dark, only alight with a lamp by his bedside. His bed was a basic medical bed like from his time at the lab, his clothes were the same too, all white.

What was he doing here? He remembered being in the pack, had he been placed there for a test? It was likely. The time was abnormally long, but Master probably wanted to see how he could handle himself.

"Good. You're awake."

Eyes flickered to the darkest corner of the room and Onyx immediately slid off the bed and knelt, keeping his head bowed. "Master," he coughed weakly. His throat felt terrible; he must've been screaming for a while for it to be that bad.

Whatever he did must've been awful to earn a punishment he couldn't even remember. He'd have to make sure he never did it again.

"You remember," he purred, appearing pleased.

His head snapped up. Onyx was confused. Why would he not remember? Sure spending time among the raptors was nice, but he could never forget Master's lessons. "Master, I'm afraid I don't understand?"

There was a sigh. "I'm not surprised. They really screwed up your head, didn't they A1?"

Onyx was alarmed. Who messed with his head?! Is that why it hurt earlier?! Because of this Psimon?! If that was the case, then he would rip him limp from limb! He would teach him the consequences of messing with Deathstroke's apprentice!

His master seemed to be following his train of thought. "It was not Psimon." That made the teen growl, if it was not Psimon then who was it?! "I doubt you remember; we did try our best to repair you. The telepaths of the Justice League certainly did their damage."

Onyx frowned, the Justice League. So they were responsible for this humiliation! A growl bubbled out of his throat; they would pay for this!

Deathstroke chuckled, stepping forwards. "Be patient, apprentice. Revenge will be served with time."

He pouted. Velociraptors always made sure their revenge was swift. He didn't like waiting. But if Master said to wait, then he would wait. At least this way he could plan his vengeance.

"For now, suit up, then meet me outside. You're going to meet the others and then you're going for some specialized training."

Others? What others? He tilted his head as Deathstroke left. Did his master have more apprentices? Or were they other assassins? Either way, he would take it; the more members they had in their pack increased their odds of success on the hunt.

Getting to his feet, Onyx walked towards the dresser. He pulled a drawer open and stopped, his gaze trailing at the piece or red and black armor sitting on the top of his folded uniform. Gently grabbing the shoulder piece, tracing the symbol on it. He thought he lost this the day…the day…his brows furrowed and he shook his head, it must've been when he was placed with the pack for extra training.

He set the armor piece down on the dresser, reaching in and pulling out a black, grey, and red uniform. Putting it on, he tightened the claps and put on the metal layers over the black under-suit. He slid on the black and silver boots, tightening them. Grabbing the grey muzzle sitting on the dresser and fastening it to his face before grabbing the armor piece and fastening it to his shoulder. Finally, he grabbed the utility belt slung over the chair, he frowned when he saw a black lasso on it. Onyx didn't recall being trained to use one, but perhaps he'd just forgotten or Master was going to teach him.

It clicked around his waist, and he strode to the door. The metal door hissed open and the masked man, looked him over before nodding. He started striding away, leaving the teen to follow silently. "Onyx. Officially on missions I want you to respond to Renegade, am I clear?"

"Yes Master," he spoke quietly. It made sense, he remembered the Doctor occasionally referring to his Master as Slade rather than Deathstroke. So Renegade was likely his cover name.

Gold eyes looked to the ground, he kinda wished he could've chosen his own code name. Nightmare would've been good. It was scary, it was memorable…and it reminded him of the pack. He missed them.

Renegade sighed quietly. Despite his lack of fondness towards the name, he wouldn't argue. Orders were orders; it wasn't his place to argue, he'd be punished. And punishments, always hurt.

"Renegade!" a voice snarled and he snapped to attention, trying not to wither under the scalding glare of Deathstroke's eye. "Focus!"

He bowed his head submissively. "Yes Master."

The single eye narrowed. "I want you to be on your best behavior. This is the team you'll be working assignments with when you're not with me. Do you understand?"

Onyx almost balked. Why…why did that sound familiar? Was he on the team before? His head hurt for a moment, he saw a flash of a girl with green skin and a tall boy with black hair. Were…were those his teammates? The hybrid shook his head. It didn't matter, he would find out when they got there.

"Renegade!"

"Yes!" he answered quickly. "Yes Master. I understand my orders."

"Good." A door hissed open and Onyx sniffed the air, his hair fluffing up in alarm when he caught the other scents. Dinosaurs?! What were they doing here?! Growling, he began to step forwards when Deathstroke's arm stopped him. "Stand down Renegade!"

Baring his fangs behind the muzzle, he glared at his Master. Stand down?! Was he mad?! There was a Rex in there! Along with several other threats! They needed to be neutralized!

"Renegade!" Deathstroke growled, his hand resting on something on his belt. "Stand down. Now!"

The teen growled, his tail swinging back and forth angrily. He wanted to hunt! Not stand down!

The single eye of his Master narrowed dangerously, and he jammed something into the teen's abdomen. Onyx bit back a cry as electricity tore through him, tripling the agony he was already in. But he refused to scream, Master always got mad when he cried out. Pity was for the weak, only those who were weak and useless cried. He wanted to avoid his Master's wrath further; when he got mad, punishment was always a quick follow.

Deathstroke relaxed his posture as his apprentice collapsed to his knees gasping for air as residual energy made the teen shake uncontrollably. Perhaps he should have forewarned him about his team consisting of hybrids like himself. This way he would know to expect the scents of animals he like fought and hunted on Sorna. Ah well, too late now.

They stepped through the door and Onyx's hair bristled even further as he saw what was waiting on the other side. People, like him…they were hybrids. "Renegade, meet your team," Deathstroke began motioning to each one. "You have B1—Tyrant."

"Sup," the dark skinned one smelling of Rex said.

"B2—Barbarian."

The one with stegosaur traits looked up from his book and Renegade growled. Prey species? What use was prey? The most he could do was fight. Carnivores could hunt prey and strategize.

Deathstroke frowned slightly at Onyx's hostility, but shoved it aside. He would work out his protégé's kinks later. It was likely his raptor instincts or his conditioning influencing him. "B3—Hardshell."

Onyx scowled again. Another prey species? At least this one had armor. He would at least be more useful than Barbarian.

"B4—Terrorwing."

"Good to see you in one piece A1," the Pteranodon girl smiled.

"B5—Seaspray," Deathstroke continued raising a brow as Onyx snapped back to attention his gold gaze locking with the Atlantean hybrid as she played cards with B1 and B3. "And finally, A2—Rogue. She is the Alpha, you are her Beta, Renegade."

"It's about time you woke up," a voice purred.

Onyx bristled. Something flashed in his head, laughter, growls, glass breaking, pain—he shook his head, snapping out of it. What was wrong with him?

Gulping, his golden gaze met her amber one. Her smile sent chills racing up his spine. Something about her was…_wrong_. "Welcome to the pack."

-.-

**November 10, 19:32**

"Renegade," Deathstroke spoke and the teen's head whipped around from where he'd been training, trying to sort through his thoughts and the voices he'd thought he'd been hearing, "Here. Now."

Onyx put away the staff and walked to his master, looking up at him questioningly.

The single eye narrowed and the assassin turned around, leading him from the room. "We have a mission."

"Should I gather the team?"

"No. They'll have their own assignments. This mission is for us only."

Even though he couldn't see it, Renegade nodded. "What are we doing?" Golden eyes widened and he hastily corrected himself, "Master."

Deathstroke scoffed, "We are assassins are we not?"

Onyx almost balked, the smell of death and the sounds of screams flashing through his head. He gulped, they were…they were going to kill someone. No matter how many times he was sent to eliminate a target it always made his stomach twist with a sick feeling. It _always_ felt as if he were doing something wrong.

Shoving the thought aside, he continued after his master towards the jet. His thoughts didn't matter, his opinions didn't matter, his feelings didn't matter; he was just there to follow orders. He was a velociraptor, and his alpha had given him a command.

A katana was shoved into his hands, and he strapped it to his back, frowning behind his mask. The sword, he knew how to use one, but the katana didn't feel right in his hands. It was like he'd gotten used to wielding something heavier, like a broadsword. But why? He'd always trained with katanas, where would he learn how to use a broadsword.

"Who's the target?"

"Queen Perdita of Lativa," Deathstroke replied shoving the image of a girl. A girl just a few years younger than himself.

The teen's stomach dropped, why? Why were they being sent to kill her? Who would want a kid her age dead? She looked so nice.

Onyx didn't even realize he'd been backhanded till he felt the pain in his face. "Do not get attached to the target apprentice," the assassin snarled. "We're being payed to kill her, and that's that. Am I understood?"

"Yes Master."

"Good." Turning, Deathstroke sat down in a chair, removing his mask and filling two mugs with tea. His cold blue eye flickered up to him and he leaned back, sipping from his mug. "Sit Onyx." Unclasping his muzzle, Onyx set it down next to him as he sat down and took his respective mug. "As assassins it's our job to get in and out undetected and to eliminate our given target. Now, usually the means doesn't matter—I do remember you being rather partial to using either your claws or a sword—however, we've been given some specifics for this mission." A vial with a clear liquid inside. "Batrachotoxin."

"One of the deadliest poisons in the world," Onyx recited, "obtained from poison dart frogs in the Amazon Rain Forest of South America. It causes heart failure by interfering with the sodium ion channels of nerves resulting in a continuous flow causing death within ten minutes of exposure."

"Good, you remember," Slade almost purred. "Our target has a known heart condition. A small amount should trigger a cardiac event that will kill her."

"Why are we following these specifics?"

"Request from our benefactor. He wants it to look like an accident waiting to happen."

Onyx tilted his head as he looked at the liquid. "How will we administer it?"

"We'll lace her medication with it with a diluted sample. It should take effect after a single dose and make her death look natural enough to avoid suspicion," Deathstroke stated. "The young queen is currently attending a diplomatic meeting in Seattle. When we arrive she will be attending a dinner, during that time I want you to infiltrate her hotel suite," he pulled out a holographic map, highlighting the floor.

"That's almost thirty stories."

"You can fly up there Onyx. You have refreshed with Terrorwing, correct?"

"Yes Master."

"Good. I'll attempt a real assassination while the Queen is out to distract her guards. While they're busy, you deliver the poison."

With a stiff nod, Onyx took the vial, carefully placing it in his utility belt. Leaning back in his seat, he silently watched the world passing outside, wondering why he felt so sick to his stomach.

-.-

**Seattle, 22:43**

Onyx crouched on a nearby roof watching the hotel. Once his master gave the signal, he could go in and…and administer the poison.

His tail slid across the thin layer of snow, causing the hybrid to shiver. It just had to be cold. It was like a sign that he shouldn't be doing this. Onyx sighed, curling his tail closer trying to collect some form of warmth, he just prayed God would forgive him; his master would punish him if he failed, severely punish him.

More flakes began to descend around him and Renegade glowered as he saw the guards still patrolling inside. Honestly, how long was he supposed to sit here freezing his tail off? He missed being warm, he missed cuddling under warm blankets with ice cream and a movie and a hand running through his hair…the teen's brows furrowed, where did that come from? He'd never done that, not with Caretaker, not with Master, the closest he ever came to that…he shivered at the thought.

/Renegade?/

He jumped, returning to reality. Onyx cursed himself, he should've known better than to get distracted on a hunt. "Yes Master?"

/Are you in position?/

He couldn't stop an irritated growl that seeped into his voice, "I've been sitting here for the past twenty minutes."

/Watch your tone apprentice/ Deathstroke warned. /Remember your assignment/

"I won't fail."

/You better not/

Renegade gulped at his tone. If he failed…if he failed his punishment was going to be bad, even worse than what they usually were. This assignment must be far more important than what his master was letting on.

Failure _wasn't_ an option.

Gold eyes flickered towards the target, watching guards move around frantically, shouting at each other. His master must've made his attempt. Switching to thermal, he observed them. There were a total of five guards in the loft. And fortunately, all of them were moving out and down, likely towards the garage to help escort the young queen to safety.

Meaning now was his chance.

Flying up, he flew over to the other roof. Quickly trotting over to a panel, he pulled out a wire from his hologlove and began hacking, putting the cameras on a loop. He had five minutes.

Running to the edge, he leapt off, spinning in the air and using his lasso to catch a metal vent coming up from the floor below. He held on tight as he swung down, silently rolling onto the balcony of the Queen's hotel suite. Bringing his lasso back, he wound it back around his belt and swapped it for a knife. Creeping to the door, he carefully grabbed the handle and pulled the door open raising a brow.

Did the guards seriously forget to lock the doors?

Oh well, it was his gain.

Pulling out the vial, he snuck to the master bathroom, carefully grabbing an orange bottle that had about three pills left with instructions to take one in the morning and one at night. Suppose it made sense that there were only three pills left, the Queen was supposed to go home tomorrow where she likely had more medicine waiting.

Opening the bottle, he pulled a pair of tweezers from his utility belt and pulled out a pill. Using his free hand, he unscrewed the vial lid and carefully dipped it in, making sure not to accidently dissolve the it. He pulled the pill out, carefully tapping the excess poison off back into the vial before gently setting the pill back in the container and closing the lid. Grabbing the vial, the hybrid assassin made himself scarce, leaving no evidence to his break in.

If things went right, Queen Perdita of Lativa would be dead within a day.


	26. Failure

Chapter 25

**A/N: hey guys! I'm back for another chapter! Anyways, thanks to all those who've reviewed so far, I love seeing them. I just own my OCs and the story, everything else: Young Justice, Jurassic Park/World, the Isle and their characters, aren't mine sadly.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**T****_elepathy/flashback/dreams_**

**November 11, 7:16CST Central City**

Wally stretched out a hand, slapping the table a few times before managing to silence his alarm. Stretching out, he grinned sitting up. "Sweet Sixteen! That's right, it's my birthday! Arm's all better! Got my cast off too!" he sang to himself before looking out the window and watching large flakes fall from above onto the ground. "And it's snowing? Cool! Today's gonna be a good day."

Getting up, the speedster got changed before rushing downstairs and skidding into a chair, gazing with wide eyes over the massive piles of food. "Happy Birthday Wally," his mom said setting another plate down and kissing his cheek.

"My favorite breakfast! Heaping piles of everything!" he grinned starting to dig in. "Thanks Mom."

His father chuckled, "You know if you ever come up for air I can take you to the DMV to get your driver's license after school. This weather will be a good proving ground."

"You know, I'm not really in a hurry to drive," he said between bites. "Cause you know I'm me."

"You certainly are."

"Plus," the redhead continued, "the Team's throwing me a big surprise party this afternoon at the cave."

"In school today, ask your teacher the definition of surprise."

"You want surprise, just watch Miss Martian when I collect my birthday kiss," he smirked kissing his bacon-waffle sandwich.

His mother rolled her eyes. "I have a surprise for you, or at least your Aunt Iris does."

She turned on the TV, and Wally turned to watch as his aunt appeared on TV. "And a special shout out to my nephew Wally, wishing him a very happy sixteenth birthday."

"So cool!"

"Now, for school closures," she continued picking up a list and the sppedster was on the edge of his seat praying his own school would be on it. "The following schools have declared today a snow day: Debuke Elementary, Speezak Jr. High, Central City High, Keystone High…"

"YES!" Wally cheered standing up.

_Best birthday ever!_

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 16:05EST**

"Recognized: Kid Flash—B03. Zeta Tube network now offline due to extreme atmospheric conditions."

"Whoa, I just made it," Wally laughed to himself as he strolled to the living room. "It really would be a tragedy if I missed my own—"

"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted turning on the lights.

"WHAT? OH YOU GUYS! You shouldn't have."

Dick rolled his eyes behind his glasses, "Right, not like you've been hinting for days or anything."

"I made two cakes," M'gann said setting the food out and lighting the candles.

"Awesome! What will you guys eat?!"

"We'll have the cupcakes. Now make a wish!"

"Way ahead of you," he smirked before breathing in. Blowing out the candles he smiled as they all clapped and cheered. "You know, if I tell you my wish, it won't come true. But if you guess…"

Miss M handed him a slice of cake and he shook his head.

"Nope guess again."

Grabbing the back of his head, M'gann kissed his forehead. "Happy birthday."

"You settling in here ok?" Robin asked holding out a slice of cake for Zatanna.

"Oh yeah," she muttered, "just like home."

"I know it's all very new and intimidating, but I promise, some day you'll get used to watching Wally eat."

Artemis joined them with a smirk. "Think we should tell him?" she aside motioning to the speedster flirting with the Martian.

"He is the only one who doesn't know," Robin shrugged and Artemis smirked.

"Then please, allow me." She walked over sitting down just behind Wally and tapped his shoulder, whispering into his ear.

"AW MAN!"

/Attention Team/ Batman's voice rang over the intercom, /suit up in polar stealth, mission briefing in five/

-.-

"Where's Flash?" Kid Flash questioned entering the briefing room.

/Flash and Red Tornado already have their assignments. A massive ice storm has paralyzed North America from coast to coast. Satellite imagery has detected five flying ice fortresses, source unknown, that seem to be responsible and must be stopped/

"Can't the Watchtower blow them out of the sky or something?"

"What's a Watchtower?" Zatanna questioned

Batman's eyes narrowed. /The League's orbiting headquarters is not weaponized. And with both Green Lanterns off world, I need all hands on deck/

Robin was the first to pick up the implication of those words. "Does that mean what I think it means? The League and the Team fighting side-by-side?!"

"Whoa! Really?!"

/Superboy, use the supercycle to rendezvous with the Batplane at Ice Fortress One; you'll drop off Aqualad and Robin and continue on with Wolf to meet Black Canary and Red Tornado at Ice Fortress Two. Miss Martian, Artemis, and Zatanna take the Bioship and rendezvous with Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter at Ice Fortress Three. The rest of the League will handle Ice Fortresses Four and Five. Sending all coordinates now/

"Uh, Batman," Wally spoke up raising a hand as he stepped forwards, "I think you skipped…"

/Kid Flash, a young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant. With all conventional airtraffic grounded by the storm, you'll need to pick up the donor heart in Boston and run it three-thousand miles across country/

"Who is this girl?"

/Does it matter?/

Wally sighed in defeat, "No, of course not, but can't we Zeta—"

"Zeta Tubes are offline," Robin reminded. "Sorry."

"Right, then how can I say no? Guess I won't be needing stealth," he said pressing the flash symbol and changing back to his regular coloring. "Speedy delivery boy at your service."

/Law enforcement across the country has been informed of your mission and is clearing your route/

-.-

**Boston, 16:26EST**

Kid Flash raced through the streets of Boston, running passed hundreds of cars stuck in the snow along the side of the cleared path. Looking ahead, he grit his teeth as he saw some officers attempting to push a large vehicle out of the way.

Green eyes flickered quickly to each side of the crowded highway. He leapt up a bus's and vaulted off the side of the large vehicle, off the side of another one, onto the roof of a car, and rolled into a sprint back on the highway.

Racing towards the hospital, he could see the forms of four people standing outside waiting for him. "Someone order a pizza?" he panted sliding to a stop.

"What you're delivering is considerably more valuable to a girl whose life depends on it."

"Duh, I mean did anyone order a pizza for me?" he corrected. "A guy burns a lot of calories running a few mph shy of the speed of sound."

"Sorry no. Now listen, this pack in heavily insulated for shock absorption, but that doesn't mean the organ within needs any extraneous jostling."

"No crumping, got it."

"Your PDA," she said and he held up his wrist allowing her to set the timer. "You have four hours to deliver the heart before it's no longer viable. Is that clear?"

"As crystal babe."

"Then go."

Turning, he began sprinting towards Seattle.

-.-

**South Dakota, 16:10MDT**

/First delay's been set/ Rogue reported. /The Highway in Chicago has been blocked off. He'll have to take a detour through the city/

"Excellent," Savage smiled. Looking at the two hybrids by his side he nodded to them. "You two know what to do, delay him as long as you can. But don't kill him, yet."

Renegade nodded as he and Terrorwing flew out of the safety of the forest and onto a bridge above some cops. "He's due past here any minute."

"Good," Terror said announcing their presence causing the men to jump and reach for their weapons. "We just need to get his attention. Any ideas Renegade?"

"One," he replied reaching into his utility belt and crashing to the ground, snow rising up in his wake. The officers cried out as a set of throwing knives implanted themselves in their legs and torsos. The winged girl soared into the air, plucking an unfortunate officer off the ground and hurling him down on two of his injured comrades.

One man charged towards Renegade with his nightstick up in the air, only to yelp as his tail swiped his feet out from under him. A bone crushing grip wrapped around the officer's throat and he froze as a knife was placed against his skin.

"You'll do."

-.-

Kid Flash's eyes narrowed as he saw a large plume of snow rising from the ground up ahead. What on earth—he shook his head. No, there wasn't any time for—a familiar figure appeared in the corner of his eye and Wally skid to an immediate stop, turning around, green eyes met gold.

"Onyx," he whispered in horror. Batman was right; Nightmare was working with the bad guys, most likely not of his own choice. "Onyx…please, you don't want to do this."

The white snow turned scarlet with blood as Onyx slit the officer's throat.

The speedster's eyes widened and he whirled towards the remaining officers as they started to get up, "GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL HANDLE THESE ASSASSINS!"

Watching them leave, he turned back towards the other hybrid and his missing teammate. "You'll handle us?" the girl chuckled. "Like a pathetic copycat sidekick can really do anything."

_"I'll show you what a pathetic copycat sidekick can do."_

A lasso wrapped around his torso and Wally yelped as he was yanked off his feet. He felt weightless for a moment as he was pulled through the air, only for gravity to return to him painfully as the winged girl's fist impacted his gut, and the speedster felt something bend that wasn't supposed to bend.

And he just got his arm fixed too.

Twisting midair, KF grunted as his face and stomach slid across the snow-covered asphalt. He couldn't jostle the heart too much. He just needed to stay long enough to snap Nightmare out of…whatever he was in.

"What was that you were saying about 'I'll show you what a pathetic copycat can do'?" Onyx mocked his eyes shining with a gleam he couldn't recognize.

"Onyx! It's me!" he called barely rolling out of the way of one of the Amazon's powerful punches. "Please Onyx, I know we didn't really get along, but you have to remember!"

"I don't know you!" he snarled spinning around and swatting Wally across the ground with that tail of his.

The speedster hissed, that was so going to leave a mark.

A shadow began to descend from above and Wally rolled out of the way as the Pteranodon girl crashed down on where he'd been. Using the plume of snow rising to his advantage, he raced towards Nightmare running around him. "C'mon man! You can't be telling me that you really forgot all the fun we had at the Cave?! Remember the Reds?! Our sparring matches?!"

Something flashed out of the corner of his eye and he ran back, watching as the girl flew above, quickly switching directions, he ran back to Onyx.

"You usually kicked my butt! You can't tell me you really don't remember!" For a split second, Wally would swear he saw a flash of recognition in his friend's eyes. _"Oh my God I think it's working!"_ he thought to himself as Onyx began to hold his head, his eyes squeezing shut as if he were in pain. "What about Halloween?! You dressed up as a big velociraptor with googly eyes. We played a prank on this kid named Marvin and made him believe Martians were invading!"

A beeping timer made his stomach sink. Looking at the PDA, Wally's heart almost stopped. Fifteen minutes, he'd been here for almost fifteen minutes trying to talk sense into his brainwashed teammate. Blinking back icy tears, he began to continue his journey to Seattle.

_"I'm so sorry Onyx."_

Back at the battleground, gold eyes flickered in the direction of the fleeing speedster. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Renegade's tail lowered, trailing across the snow as he glanced in the speedster's direction again. "I thought…" he shook his head. "Nevermind, probably just the wind."

"Whatever," Terrorwing shrugged landing beside him her green eyes watching warily. "Are…are you ok?"

Renegade rubbed his head, grinding his teeth together as a splitting headache began to form. "I…I don't know."

"We can sort it out on the way back to base."

"Sort what out?" Savage spoke and the two got to attention.

"Just a migraine sir."

The immortal nodded, checking his watch with a satisfied nod. "Yes, that would be best. Especially since neither of you are acclimated to the cold. But, well done, the time you delayed him should suffice."

-.-

**Seattle, 17:08PST**

The ice made stopping a tad tricky. Sliding along the ice, Wally landed on his rump as he slid to a stop at the doors of the hospital just in front of a male nurse in a heavy coat. "Kid Flash!"

"I—I made it. I'm here," he panted tiredly, holding up the box.

A solemn look crossed over the man's face. "I'm…I'm sorry. You're too late."

Wally checked his watch again, wanting to confirm. According to it he still had nineteen minutes to spare. "No! We still have time! See!" he exclaimed holding out his watch.

"I know. But, she passed away twelve minutes ago."

The yellow-clad speedster's heart sank. Twelve minutes, if he'd been here twelve minutes earlier…if he hadn't stopped to try and save Nightmare…

"Don't blame yourself. I'm sure you got here as fast as you could," the nurse reassured patting his shoulder. "Maybe another recipient can be found."

Wally ignored the man as he lumbered inside, flopping onto one of the chairs putting his head in his hands. He failed. He couldn't save his friend when he needed him. And he couldn't save a ten-year-old girl whose life he'd literally had been carrying _in his hands_. Wally West failed as a hero.

"Kid Flash!" several voices exclaimed rushing towards him. "Where's the Queen's heart?"

"Wait, the girl's dead so now it's going to a queen?" he questioned.

"No, the little girl is the queen. Queen Perdita of Lativa, age ten. And she's not dead but she is running out of time."

His thoughts flashed back to the man he met outside. Bolting to his feet, his gaze met the man's as the elevator doors closed. Eyes flickering towards the arrow, he ran to the stairs and began going down. He'd be in the parking garage, he had to be!

Shoving the door open, he spotted the man opening a car door and he ran out, snatching the precious organ right out from his slimy fingers. Two more doors opened and the fake-nurse, and two other men began to open fire as KF ran away, holding the heart close to his chest.

He couldn't let anything happen to it. It had to reach the girl intact.

Moving towards the stairs, he growled, vaulting off a pillar as he saw two men by the stairs. He'd have to go through the street.

And, as if this day couldn't get any worse, he suddenly felt nauseous. Rolling over himself, he glared back at the cause, Count Vertigo. Of course, it should have been obvious from the beginning. The only thing standing in the way of Vertigo and the Lativan throne was his niece, Queen Perdita.

"Crawling away?" Verigo sneered. "Is the young hero reduced to that?"

"Hey, I'm not proud," he griped still continuing his slow crawl.

"Apparently."

"I don't get it Vertigo. You were defeated with the rest of the Injustice League. How come you're not in prison with your putrid pals?" he questioned.

The Count shrugged, "As a member of the Lativan Royal Family I have diplomatic immunity. As long as no crimes against Lativa can be proven against me."

"And when the Queen needed a heart, cold Count Heartless heard opportunity knock. The ice fortresses were all part of the plan to murder your niece! And the hybrids! They stalled me on your orders!"

"It is nice to have friends. They made sure, their best assassin personally delivered the poison to my niece last night, and as we can clearly see, it worked," he smiled pulling a sword out of his cane. "Now, shall we see if I can kill two hearts with one blow?"

"Take your best shot," Wally taunted. Grabbing the pack, he slid it along a trail of ice reaching into the garage as he rolled over and kicked Vertigo's legs out from under him. "Yes!" He scrambled to his feet, quickly knocking over the henchmen standing in his way.

"ENOUGH!" Vertigo snarled.

Dizziness began to overwhelm his senses making the speedster stumbled. Shaking his head Wally clenched his teeth. No. No, he already failed twice tonight, he wasn't going to again!

With renewed vigor, he sped up, slamming his fist right into the Count's nose sending him flying back. Straddling his chest, Wally began to yank off his amplifier. "I'd love to continue this chat, but you aren't my priority."

Tossing the trinket aside, he raced in the directed of the pack, sliding under a car to grab it before running out of the garage and back out onto the snowy street. Glass shattered as he burst through the front doors and rolled to his knees at the doctor's feet.

"Take it! Go!" he exclaimed holding out the package."

"R-Right. Transport team to OR-2 stat!" he called as they ran off.

He watched the elevator door close and once the arrow flashed up, Wally felt relief rush through him. He made it. He didn't fail.

With that relief, the exhausted speedster collapsed.

-.-

**November 12, 6:39PST**

The first thing Kid Flash had the pleasure of seeing when he regained consciousness, was the oh so lovely Count Vertigo standing smugly at the end of his hospital bed. "Count Vertigo."

"That's _King_ Vertigo to you peasant!" he corrected with a snarl.

"King?"

"Perdita is dead. And the beauty of it is, I just needed to secretly hire an assassin to lace her medication with poison. I didn't have to lay a hand on her."

"And now no one can lay a hand on you."

"As King of Lativa, I'm untouchable."

"Let's test that!" KF challenged starting to sit up only for pain to spread through his chest. He forgot Onyx and the other hybrid chick did their damage.

"Now, now Little Hero," Vertigo chided, "you'll pull your stitches. Besides, who exactly are you mad at, hmm? She died on the table. All that extra planning and effort, neither of us needed to have bothered."

"Right," Wally scoffed. "And now it must kill you to know you now owe favors to assassins and I'm guessing five ice villains for nothing!"

"Not at all. They played their roles in my attempt to rid Lativa of Perdita. We couldn't have known it was unnecessary."

"So you still deserve credit for attempted murder!"

"It's called regicide."

Kid Flash smiled, reaching for the curtain to his right. "It's called," he ripped it back, "YOU'RE BUSTED JERKFACE!"

The speedster would forever treasure the look on the traitor's face as he saw his niece and her guards just on the other side glaring at him.

"I believe you know Queen Perdita."

"No…" Vertigo whispered as his own voice was replayed on a recorder.

"Count Vertigo, as Queen of Lativa I hereby accuse you of high treason against the crown and revoke your diplomatic immunity."

"No!" he exclaimed pulling out his sword.

Thinking quickly, Wally grabbed his IV pole and swung it up, slamming it right under Vertigo's chin and sending him sprawling on the ground as the guards arrested him. "Send this clown to Belle Rev."

"Well played children, this round goes to you," he grumbled as the men dragged him out, "and by all means, allow the victory to go to your heads."

Getting up from his bed, Wally shuffled over and picked up the sword, sheathing it. "Thank you," she smiled. "Your plan worked perfectly."

"Well, when I woke up and found out you were in recovery, I knew Vertigo would make another attempt on your life, unless A: he thought you were dead, and B: he lost that darn immunity. And was sent away for good," he explained holding out the sword.

The young queen shook her head. "That sword is an heirloom of my country, not to the Count. I would be pleased for you to have it, as a reward? Or a souvenir?"

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 13:45EDT**

Wally set down the heart transport pack on the souvenir shelf. He would admit, the sword was cool, but this…this was better, it fit the purpose of the mission more.

"Dude! I just heard! You saved an entire country! Major kudos!" Dick exclaimed jogging in.

Wally would've smiled, but he couldn't help but think back to South Dakota. "I saw Onyx."

Robin's smile dropped and his brows rose. "W-What?"

"You heard me, Onyx. I saw him. On my way to Seattle. He…he attacked me, with one of the other hybrids. Vertigo sent them as a distraction."

Robin grinned, grabbing his best friend's arm, "This is a start, if Vertigo managed to get Onyx, then he knows who took him! Let's go tell the others!"

-.-

**Unknown Location**

Onyx lied limply on the floor of his cell, his gaze remaining unfocused as he looked at the wall. Not that it mattered, it was too dark for even him to see anything. He couldn't even tell where the door was. Though, perhaps cell was a gracious term, the closet he was confined it was barely big enough for him to comfortably curl up in.

The only thing he currently knew was the voice of his master emanating from the intercom above him. He stopped listening some time ago, it's not like his Master would tell him anything he didn't already know.

_"Weak."_

Onyx squeezed his eyes shut, finding little difference in the darkness.

_"Worthless."_

Of course he was weak, worthless. He couldn't even complete one simple assignment without royally screwing up. He was a failure.

A soft hiss finally broke from the monotony of the cell and Onyx whined as light streamed in, outlining the form of his Master looming over him. A hand roughly grabbed his arm and Onyx grimaced as he was carelessly dragged out and forced to his knees.

"Tell me apprentice: why is Perdita alive?" Deathstroke growled glaring down at the trembling teen bowing at his feet.

"I—I administered the poison, just like you said," he whimpered bowing lower, "she should be dead."

There was a loud smack as Slade backhanded the boy, "You clearly didn't leave the pill in the poison long enough. How long did I tell you to leave it in there?"

"I thought it would dissolve," he spoke up and the teen paled as his master's eye narrowed.

"You _thought_?" Onyx yelped as a hand wrapped around his throat, shoving him to the ground and knocking the air out of his chest. "What have I told you about _that_?" The hand around his throat squeezed tighter, "Well?"

"I-I don't have them," he answered squeezing his eyes shut.

The hand got tighter, and Onyx could feel his pulse beating rapidly under his Master's palm. "What else apprentice?"

"I—I…" he trailed off trying to think through the haze induced by his growing lack of air.

"Evidently I have to remind you," Deathstroke spoke coldly, releasing his neck. Onyx gasped, feeling anything but relief. Sure he could breathe, but that was only so he could be conscious for his punishment.

A heavy, steel-toed boot slammed into his ribs, and he held back a pained cry as his beating began.

The next blow came in the form of another kick, this time colliding with his nose. Followed by something slamming down painfully on his abdomen, sending a mild electric shock coursing through him. He rolled away, yelping as Deathstroke grabbed his hair harshly, slamming him face first into the hard, marble floors several times before he was lifted up and a metal-clad fist made his fangs painfully clash together. Stumbling back, Onyx yelped as his master punched him again, before roundhouse kicking him back down onto the floor. The teen's head bounced off the ground, and he gave a pained cry as a boot stomped on his open palm, twisting. Onyx could feel the bones his hand slowly being twisted in a direction they weren't supposed to move.

He screamed when he felt his fingers start to break.

Once satisfied with dishing his first round of punishment, Deathstroke roughly grabbed his apprentice's hair, and ignoring the boy's pathetic whining and pleading as he was dragged across the floor, his boots scraping the ground as he tried to get to his feet.

"Master, please! I—I promise, it won't happen again!"

His master looked at him coldly, his eye showing nothing but disappointment and rage. Onyx whimpered, he failed his master. He deserved this, this was his fault. If he had just obeyed, then he wouldn't have failed. Then his master wouldn't be mad at him.

The hand in his hair tightened with an angered growl, and the air was knocked out of his lungs as he was tossed onto a metal table. Clamps locked around his hands and feet and Onyx struggled uselessly against the restrains, fearing what was coming.

He'd been right. This assignment was bigger than what he'd been told. And now, he was paying the price for his failure, for his defiance. Onyx bit his cheek, feeling blood fill his mouth as electricity began arching through his body. The teen wanted to scream for all it was worth, but he couldn't, he couldn't scream. If he did, his punishment would be longer, it would get worse. His master hated it when he was weak.

The voltage increased and Onyx could no long hold back the pained cry that escaped his mouth as his muscles painfully spasmed in protest. He slammed his head back onto the metal table, biting tongue in a vain attempt to stop his screams as the voltage continued to rise. Every nerve felt like it was on fire, only being granted a few mere seconds of reprieve before the agony started again, forcing his muscles to contract painfully.

He couldn't really tell how long he'd been lying there taking his master's wrath, but he knew better than to fight back. The more obedient he was, the less severe his punishment would be.

Deathstroke turned off the electricity and he reached out ignoring the hybrid's startled flinch at the touch. Before long, the boy relaxed at the sensation of a hand carding through his hair slowly as his body continued to spasm with residual energy. That meant it was over; he was done with his punishment.

"Now my apprentice: why did you make me hurt you?"

"Because I was bad," he whispered hoarsely.

There was a harsh yank of his hair and his head was slammed onto the table, "More specific, apprentice. Why did you make me hurt you?"

Onyx whimpered at the pain, "I disobeyed you Master."

"That's right. And you know what happens to those who disobey their masters."

Onyx's back arched off the table as the electricity started again. A choked scream tore its way out of his throat. The pain seemed worse this time.

The restraints on his wrists and ankles kept him from moving as his body tried to escape the electricity coursing through him. He could feel his tail curl up painfully in reaction. Something grabbed the extra extremity harshly, and he cried out as it was slammed down on the electrified table. At this point the voltage increased, and this time, Onyx didn't even try to hold back his screams.

He wasn't sure how long the pain lasted, but Onyx relaxed as a hand slowly started stroke his cheek. "And how did you disobey me?"

"I told you I thought," he answered weakly, yelping as he was backhanded.

"Specify apprentice!"

The trembling teen squeezed his eyes shut, holding back pained tears. "I..I…"

His Master growled, clearly not pleased with his hesitation. A hand wrapped around his neck and began squeezing. "I'll give you one more chance apprentice. What did you do?"

"I defied your orders Master!"

Deathstroke wasted no time in punching him for that one. "We already established that you worthless piece of shit. What did you do?! How exactly did you defy your Master?!"

"I…I…I used my own judgement to assume my opinion was valid," he squeaked, bracing for the next hit.

Thankfully, the pain didn't come. There was a sigh from above him and Onyx took a deep breath, feeling the pressure lift as the hand lifted to stroke his cheek. "And what have I told you about that?"

"I don't have any," he replied, staring at red spattering his master's mask in front of him wondering where it came from. Not that it mattered; it wasn't his place to care. His master was right, he was weak, worthless, no one would care for a thing like him. No one except his Master. He had to please Master.

His chin was lifted up and Onyx stared into the cold blue eye of Deathstroke. "What don't you have my apprentice?"

"A will, opinions, thoughts, freedom," he replied dully as he began to remember his place, "I am nothing more than property."

There was a pleased hum, and Onyx trembled in relief as Deathstroke went back to rubbing his head. "Good. And what is your purpose?"

"To obey and serve the Light."

"That's right: you belong to the Light, you are their property." Slade purred. "You are nothing more than an extension of their will. You should be honored Apprentice."

Carding a hand through the boy's hair, the assassin smirked to himself as the teen practically melted, desperately seeking comfort. It was ironic considering how he just beaten his apprentice back into submission with that very hand. But he didn't care; the only thing Onyx knew right now is that it meant comfort. It kept the teen in line; punishment lead to comfort, comfort lead to total submission of thought and will, and submission made training easier. The more obedient Onyx was, the less he'd have to punish him, and with that he could do his job: Mold the boy into the mindless weapon he was meant to be. Nothing more than an obedient slave to the Light.

"And why do you make me punish you?"

Onyx closed his eyes, nuzzling into his master's palm with a soft purr, "Cause you care about me, Master."

"That's right apprentice. Remember, I hurt you because I care about you. After all, who else would care for a freak like you?"


	27. Hostility

Chapter 26

**A/N: hey guys, I'm back! Good to see y'all here! Remember, I just own my OCs in this story, otherwise it's not mine.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/dreams/flashbacks_**

**Bialya, November 15, 13:21**

Onyx lied on his bed resting after his most recent assassination mission, staring up at the ceiling as his thoughts spun. Something was wrong with him, that much he was becoming certain. It had been going on for a while, but ever since his battle with Flash Jr. it had just been getting worse.

At first, he thought it was just conversations he'd been over hearing between guards, or his teammates during training, or from servants around Queen Bee's palace. But then…it started happening in less crowded areas. In rooms where it was just him and one other person, or where no one was talking at all. But what made him sure was that day in South Dakota, he swore he heard the speedster apologize, but Terrorwing said she didn't hear anything…

Should he mention it? It couldn't have been normal to hear voices…he didn't think it was.

Then there was the issue of every time he went to sleep; he'd be tormented by strange dreams. Dreams where he'd be tossing witty banter between a redheaded boy that looked like Kid Flash out of his uniform, flying alongside a boy in a black shirt riding a flying motorcycle, learning to cook with a kind girl with green skin, joking with a pretty blonde, playing games with a dark-haired boy with sunglasses, talking quietly with a tall, dark skinned boy with black tattoos; things like that.

But the most frequent dream bothered him the most, every time he had it, he wanted to cry as his chest twisted with an emotion he didn't understand. It always started with soft words of encouragement. He would feel himself push off the ground and a pair of hands would gently grab his arms, and he felt a trill of excitement. He was flying, this was the first time he was really flying. The woman holding his arms would give him a wide smile, her blue eyes almost glowing with pride as she praised him and other voices cheered, it would soon fade out to where he was on a warm couch cuddling with the woman from the training room. She would have her arm wrapped around his shoulder, carding a hand through his hair. And she'd be telling him stories about the world and all the things she'd seen, the people she'd met, or they'd be watching a movie eating sweets till he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

He didn't understand the emotions the dream gave him. Every time he had that dream he felt…safe. He didn't need to worry about making mistakes, because he'd been told they were ok. He wouldn't be punished for mistakes or failure. In the dream he felt happy.

He felt loved.

And every time he woke up, it left that hollow feeling in his chest knowing that it was just that, a dream.

"Onyx?" Terrorwing's voice came through as she knocked on the door. "You in there?"

Sitting up, he wiped his eyes and went to the door, unlocking it. "Terrorwing?"

"Onyx we're off mission, it's Skylar," she corrected walking in.

"Please come on in," he muttered closing the door and leaning against the wall as she sat down in the chair. "What do you want?"

She rolled her green eyes, resting her cheek on her fist. "What do you think genius? What was going on with you when we were fighting Flash's copycat? And don't tell me it was a migraine."

Onyx rubbed his wrists, grimacing as he felt the electrical burns. "I…I don't know," he muttered.

She raised a brow. "Really, cause it seems like you two were getting pretty friendly?"

"He said he knew me."

"You were kidnapped and brainwashed by the League, you probably met."

"He said sorry as he was leaving. He knew my name," he said.

"He said sorry?" she said raising a brow. "That sounds like guilt to me."

"It felt like guilt, but…I dunno."

"Felt like?" she questioned. "What do you mean felt like?"

He shrugged, he didn't know how to explain it. Not without sounding like he was nuts.

"Clean that blood off, we have a mission."

A mission. That's exactly what he needed. It would get his mind off the strange dreams. "When do we leave?"

"In a few hours, we're heading to Qurac. Pack up, we're gonna be there for a few days. The Queen wants to do a hostile takeover through their government."

"Yippie."

-.-

**Qurac, 19:41**

Renegade and Terrorwing landed quietly on the roof of the Quraci Presidential Palace. Nodding to each other, they split up. Their mission was to find the president and hold him there till Rogue arrived with Psimon.

He ran to the edge of the roof, crouching down as he watched a pair of guards walk on the path below. As they approached the door to the east wing, he crouched down and walked above them. Peering over the edge of the roof, he watched as they opened the door.

It began to close and he flew down, pressing himself to the roof of the walkway as he caught the door with his tail. He pulled the door open, closing it quietly behind him. He ran through the hall, hiding on the arching ceilings above the guards as he looked for the target. Approaching a large set of double doors, he narrowed his eyes at the two guards standing outside.

Oh well, Psimon said casualties were likely. He grabbed two throwing knives, throwing them into the men's throats. They went down with quiet gasps, and Renegade opened the door, dragging the bodies inside the room where the President was sleeping.

"I've got him."

/On our way/

-.-

**Mt. Justice, November 22, 9:55EST**

"Rumaan Harjavti is the democratically elected president of Qurac," Batman explained showing the image of a short, middle-eastern man shaking hands with Bruce Wayne. "He's been praised as a fair and wise leader, a humanitarian. However, five days ago, Harjavti allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation of Bialya, Queen Bee."

Superboy scoffed, "Not a fan."

"Few are. But Harjavti is suddenly backing Queen Bee's baseless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times and has announced the countries will reunify in two days at a ceremony in Qurac."

Batman turned on a news feed and the Quraci Preident began speaking, "After the Ceremony, I will step down as president, so that our rightful monarch, Queen Bee, may rule."

The screen switched to said Queen standing at her own podium in her country, with her two sons by her side. Tyrone, the heir to the throne, and Drake, the younger brother. "My sons and I applaud President Harjavti for unifying our peoples and I gladly come to Qurac to be crowned sole leader of our nation."

"And the Quracis are ok with this?!" Wally exclaimed.

"Hardly," Batman replied as more news feeds appeared, showing various protests. "They're well aware of the brutality of Queen Bee's regime, but Harjavti has censored the pressed, silenced all legitimate protest, and invited the Bialyian military to enforce martial law."

"Queen Bee has to be controlling Harjavti," Robin remarked. "Doesn't she have the power to enthrall most men?"

"And some women. But not long distance, and we have confirmation that she hasn't left Bialya. Something else is at work here. Find out what. Robin, you're team leader."

The Boy Wonder's eyes widened as KF grinned raising a hand. "Cool! Promotion! Sweet!"

"Me?" Robin protested. "What about Aqualad?"

"Busy helping Aquaman. You're the next logical choice."

"Great."

"Dude, you totally left me hanging."

-.-

**Qurac, 23:56**

"We're right above the Quraci-Bialyian border," Robin said as the Bioship began to fly over.

"A border that the Bialyians are currently in the process of ignoring," Wally growled, pointing out the group of soldiers and tanks barreling over a fence and strolling right into the neighboring country, scaring a group of wildebeest.

"No opposition, guess Harjavti really is in bed with Bialya," Superboy grumbled.

"I wouldn't expect opposition here. It's an animal sanctuary."

"The Logan Animal Sanctuary?!" M'gann questioned.

"You've heard of it?"

"Guys," KF began, "the tanks caused a stampede, with civilians in harm's way!"

"I see them, woman and a small boy," Conner confirmed.

"We have to help them!"

"We're way off mission here," Robin grumbled before sighing, "Deploy, but stealth mode. If the Bialyians know we've hit them, it becomes an international incident."

The Bioship flew down, firing on the tanks down below. The blast hit the right tracks on one of the tanks, making it veer left as the other belt continued running, making it ram into another tank. Flying through the smoke coming from the tanks, the team deployed.

Upon landing, Robin hurled a Batarang that released smoke into the air. While the soldiers were distracted, Kid Flash took the opportunity to run at them, using his speed to ram them aside while the other men ran as the Bioship continued to open fire from above.

At the forefront of the stampede, Superboy slammed to the ground in front of the mother and son. A wildebeest ran into him and he grabbed its horns, slamming it down in the middle of the crater. Seeing the block in their path, the herd spit down the middle, racing along on either side of the small group.

The animal the pair were attending to got up, apparently startled by the stampede. It ran to the side, the young boy calling out after it. Fortunately, he didn't have to worry long before the oryx was levitated into the air, above the danger.

"Whoa."

"Are you both alright?" Robin spoke up as the two civilians turned to him.

"Mom! Mom! Mom! We were just saved by Robin and Kid Flash!" the boy exclaimed.

"Superboy and Miss Martian helped too," Wally remarked as said teammates joined them.

M'gann lowered the struggling animal to the ground, causing the boy to run over with a wide smile. "Oryx!" he said hugging the beast.

"We've diverted the Bialyians around the sanctuary, you should be safe now."

"Uh, yeah, coast is clear Miss M, you can de-camo now."

With a slight gulp, the alien girl reached up and pulled down her hood, smiling at the duo nervously. "H-Hi."

"You may've made things worse, Bialyian border crossings are a way of life here," the woman stated crossing her arms. "Usually they wreck a few fences and move on, engaging them might've made us a target."

"Mom! Uncool!"

She sighed, "I'm sorry. I should thank you. This is my son Garfield, I'm—"

"Marie Logan!" M'gann exclaimed. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person! Uh, I've—I've admired your stance on animal rights for years."

Conner raised an eyebrow, _"You've only been on Earth six months."_

She flushed looking down to hide her embarrassment.

"The oryx is sick and I think you injured this wildebeest," Marie said examining the limping animal.

"Uh…sorry?"

"I suppose it was unavoidable," she sighed. "But both need to go to our clinic."

"The boys can do that!" M'gann replied. "You and I can, um, fix your fences."

"That's not exactly our—"

"Robin!"

"Please Mom!"

Both sighed. "Fine."

"Yes!"

-.-

**Dhabar**

"Sir, one of our battalions has reported being attacked!" a guard said as he stumbled into where Psimon, Renegade, Terrorwing, and Rogue stood with the mindless puppet currently serving as President of Qurac.

"Protesters again?" Psimon questioned.

"No, sir. These ones actually managed to drive our men back."

Rogue's red eyes narrowed, her tail whipping side-to-side angrily. "What?" she hissed turning to her teammates. "Renegade, you stay with me, I'll need your help for the final steps of our plan. Terrorwing, group up with some of the drones. Take these pests out!"

-.-

**Logan Animal Sanctuary**

Hearing something rustling in the trees, Conner looked up only to grunt as a screeching monkey landed on his face before leaping off onto Wally and stealing his protein bar. "Hey!" the speedster yelped as it stole his food, hopping onto the shoulder of the young boy leading them to his house.

Garfield laughed lightly at the young heroes. "It's ok. It's just Monkey."

"Good name. But I hate monkeys," Superboy growled glaring daggers at the infernal creature. It threw a protein bar at his head with a screech and the clone had never wanted heat vision more than that moment.

"Looks like Monkey hates Superboys," Robin chuckled.

KF gave an agreeing snort as they walked inside, "Just be glad all he threw was a protein bar."

"So, pretty weird about Miss Martian and my mom right?" Garfield said as they sat down, making themselves comfortable.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she looks e_xactly_ like Marie! You know, except greener."

"She does?" Wally questioned.

The boy rolled his eyes, "Well duh, especially back when Mom was a teen and she starred on some TV show called _Hello Megan_."

"Wait, Hello Megan is a TV show?"

"I thought that was just something she just said all the time?"

"Yeah, on the TV show. Way before we were born, only one season, you can't even find it on the internet," he looked towards the TV, "I think Mom has a tape somewhere."

The boys glanced between themselves and began searching frantically.

-.-

Wooden posts slammed into their designated spots as M'gann dropped them. Once they were stable, she levitated the barbed wire, carefully wrapping it around each wooden post and fixing the fence.

"Well, you're certainly a time saver," Marie muttered pulling a pair of clips to cut the remaining wire from the spool.

"How was it? Being Megan?"

"Being Megan?" she repeated. "I don't know. I was young, it was fun."

"Remember that time you were supposed to make cookies for the bake sale, only you thought it'd be faster to make one giant cookie and—"

"Listen," Marie interrupted, "Hello Megan was a job. The person you saw on TV, isn't who I am."

-.-

"I FOUND IT!" Garfield exclaimed holding up a tape as the boys regrouped in the living room. "Hello Megan! The pilot episode!"

Blowing off the dust, the boy began putting in the VHS player as KF whistled. "Whoa, VHS, where's you 8-Track?"

"Wait," Superboy said, turning around looking tense. "Aircraft, headed this way."

"Gar, stay put," Robin ordered before following his teammates outside.

"What is it?" M'gann questioned as she and Marie returned. Looking to the east, they saw four forms approaching. Three, split off revealing the forms of drones as they opened fired on the group, forcing Conner to shield M'gaan and Marie with his body.

"Where's my son?!"

"I ordered him to stay inside," Robin informed.

Marie's eyes widened in horror. "He's eight! He doesn't do orders!"

"Well," a new voice spoke, "look at we have here."

"MOM!"

They all turned, eyes going wide at the sight of Garfield struggling in the grip of the Pteranodon girl flying above the barn. "You just had to mess with the troops."

"NO!" Marie screamed as Conner held her back.

The hybrid girl dropped Garfield as a drone flew by, firing at the propane tanks by the barn. The shockwave from the explosion sent the boy flying through the air and Miss Martian took off, catching the unconscious child in her arms.

A shadow came from above, and M'gann shielded the boy with her body as claws raked along her side. A hand grabbed her leg and the Martian girl cried out as she was hurled to the ground.

Sitting up, she handed Garfield to Marie and stood up glaring at the girl with anger in her eyes. Flying up, she used her telekinesis to hurl one of the drones at her. The hybrid girl flew right at it, punching through the plane and wrapping her hands around the Martian girl's throat. Two fists emerged from M'gann's stomach, uppercutting the girl's chin and knocking her back. With an enraged yell, Miss Martian used her powers to slam her opponent through the second drone and onto the ground, dust rising from the impact as the ground shook.

Landing at the edge of the crater, M'gann glared down at the unconscious hybrid girl. Levitating some barbed wire, she wrapped it around her. Once she woke up, they could interrogate the prisoner.

-.-

"He's in shock," Marie frowned. "He needs a blood transfusion, now. Are either of you o-negative?"

"No."

"Sorry."

Marie Logan hissed through her teeth, "Neither am I, it's the hardest to match. I kept a supply in the clinic."

"I can run him to the nearest hospital," KF offered.

"The nearest hospital with a guaranteed blood supply is half-an-hour away at your top speed, longer by Bioship," Robin stated.

"He doesn't have that much time," Ms. Logan grumbled trying to think of a solution. "What's Superboy's blood-type?"

"He's Kryptonian, and Miss Martian—"

"Might be able to help," she interrupted entering the room. "My shapeshifting occurs at the cellular level. I think I can morph my blood to match his."

"Please," the desperate mother begged, "please try."

She nodded, "I'll need to concentrate. No distractions."

That was all Marie needed to hear. "Everyone out!" she snapped shoving the boys out of the room and closing the door.

Wally and Robin walked into the living room where they froze seeing Conner glaring at a tied-up girl sitting across from him. "What happened?"

"Miss Martian," Superboy replied narrowing his eyes as he waited for her to make a move. As far as he could tell she was still unconscious, but she could be faking.

"Great," Robin muttered rubbing his brows as he sunk down int a seat. "We have a prisoner, injured civilians, and to top it all off Harjavti steps down tomorrow! Subjecting all of Quarc to this danger! KF, can you find a news station?"

The speedster grabbed a handful of remotes glancing between them, "Uh, sure…which one is it?" Grabbing a random on, he turned the TV on and almost immediately a theme song that was definitely not the news came on.

_Hello Megan!_

_School and boys and parents too_

_A whole lot to juggle for miss you know who_

_Ohhh_

_Hello Megan_

_Ohhh_

_Hello Megan_

_This cheerleader knows the score_

_Center of attention and so much more_

_Hello Megan!_

_Hello Megan!_

_A little bit distractible_

_But never too attractable_

_She's really quite attractable_

_Ok, a lot distractible_

_Eventually she'll get a clue_

"Hello Megan!" the girl on the tv said smacking her forehead in the same way M'gann did.

_The girl for me_

_The girl for you_

_Hello Megan_

_Hello Megan_

_The girl for me_

_The girl for you_

_Hello Megan_

"Maybe it's a coincidence," Conner muttered.

_Hello Megan_

_Hello Megan!_

"Hey Mom, I'm going to the library to study!" the TV girl said running down the stairs.

A woman in a blue shirt dusting the couch, rolled her eyes. "But didn't you invite a certain someone to study here?"

The doorbell rang and the redhead, smacked her forehead, "Hello Megan!" She ran down the remaining steps and opened the door to a tall, black-haired boy. "Conner!" she exclaimed hugging him. "I thought you'd never get here!"

"Oh yeah, pure coincidence," KF chuckled.

"What the hell are we watching?" The boys turned to see the captured hybrid looking at the TV in absolute confusion. "Seriously? Why is your teammate on the TV?"

"It's done," M'gann spoke causing the speedster to jump and change the channel, "all we can do now is wait."

"My fellow Quracis…"

"Is that Harjavti?" Megan questioned and they looked to the TV.

"Queen Bee's rule is a gift to Qurac."

"Hey that guy in back!" Superboy growled. "I know him."

Robin typed on his glove and zoomed in. "It's Psimon," Miss M identified, "the psychic we fought last time we were in Bialya. He was working for Queen Bee then, he must be working for her now."

"Fortunately, we have just the person to ask," Wally said and they all turned to the prisoner on the couch. "What's your plan?"

She raised a brow. "What makes you think I'm really going to tell you?"

"We can have Miss Martian read your mind till we find what we want," KF threatened.

She snorted, "Really? As if heroes would stoop to such a method. Must be nice to have morals, at least that's what Onyx said till Psimon scrambled his brains."

Superboy growled, stepping forwards only for Robin to hold out an arm, "She's trying to provoke you."

"Maybe I'm just telling the truth? How do you know? For all you know we were sent in to kill Harjavti after we took over the country and frame you?" she smirked and Robin narrowed his eyes.

"I think it worked," Ms. Logan said interrupting the interrogation, "Garfield's stable."

"Good, cause we have our mission."

Going to the Bioship, they tossed their prisoner in the closet, it should be good enough to hold her for now.

-.-

**Dhabar, November 23, 22:11**

Examining the feed from his camera, Robin moved it around, making sure the room was clear. "Harjavti's alone."

Kicking the vent open, the team dropped down and approached the President. The man took a moment to notice them, his eyes glassy and unfocused as his gaze met the Boy Wonder's. "Where's my daughter?" he held his head. "Where's Psimon?"

"Forget him," Robin replied, "let's get you outta here."

The doors burst open and Bialyian troops wearing Apokolyptian armor stormed in. "Well, well," a familiar voice purred and they all growled as the Indominus hybrid calmly strode into the room, "American heroes, no doubt here to assassinate the President. Right Renegade?"

"Obviously," a horrifyingly familiar voice spoke and they all turned around to see Onyx standing behind them. "Pity we were too late to stop them."

"An absolute shame."

_"Those are Apokolyptian weapons,"_ Superboy remembered.

_"Which they'll use to kill Harjavti, frame us, and Queen Bee gets to rule Qurac,"_ Robin growled.

_"Wow, that chick really wasn't lying."_

_"I found Psimon!"_ M'gann exclaimed flying out of the room. _"I'll get him, maybe if I take him out Onyx will come to his senses."_

_"No wait!"_

_"I'll help."_

_"Superboy, the mission is Harjavti, and like it or not, you're the only one who can match Onyx in terms of pure strength,"_ Robin protested.

"Get them."

The men opened fired, forcing the remaining teens to dodge. KF immediately started to barrel the men over as Robin went after the girl, leaving Superboy to handle their old teammate. "Onyx, please, I don't want to fight you," Conner pleaded rolling under a punch before barely avoiding a tail swing.

His teammate growled, gold eyes narrowing into thin slits. Throwing a punch, Superboy caught it, grabbing his other hand continuing to try to reason with his friend.

"Please Onyx, you have to remember. It's me, Superboy."

"STOP TELLING ME THAT!"

Conner grunted as he was hurled through a wall, landing on the ground outside on his back. Blue eyes widened and he rolled to the side as Nightmare crashed down, shaking the ground from his impact. Conner lunged at him, tackling the hybrid football style, knocking him to the ground.

Instead of fighting him, Onyx rolled with the attack, using his hands to spring them back and Conner found himself straddled under the smaller clone. A punch hit his jaw, and Superboy finally found himself understanding how Onyx was able to break Superman's nose. He knew Amazons were strong, but Onyx was _insanely_ strong.

Swinging his fist up, Superboy, punched his friend off of him, and got to his feet wiping blood off his lip. Claw marks were dug into the ground from where the hybrid had used his hands to catch himself. Conner could hear the enraged growl, and Onyx's head snapped up to glare at him, with _glowing red_ eyes.

Renegade lunged, and Conner screamed as electricity surged through his frame. Getting blasted back, he looked up with wide eyes to see his friend walking towards him, red lightning sparking over his frame.

Another power, Nightmare just had to develop _another_ power, _now_. Normally Superboy would be jealous, how come _he_ kept getting powers when he didn't even have most of the Kryptonian standard? How come the younger clone managed to get love and affection from his DNA donor when Superman gave him nothing but contempt?

But, right now, he was more concerned. They _had_ to get Nightmare away from these guys, _now_. Before they started to abuse their friend's powers.

Superboy leapt towards Nightmare, throwing a punch. The hybrid stepped aside, moving to grab his incoming fist. Instead, Conner dropped swiping Nightmare's legs out from under him. The smaller clone grunted, and a tail hit the back of his legs.

Superboy rolled onto his back, raising his hands to catch Nightmare's claws as they swung down towards his throat. The muscles in his body spasmed as the energy surged in through his arms, but while he wanted to let go, Conner wasn't sure if he wanted to find out that Nightmare's claws could pierce his skin.

Suddenly, the weight left his chest as something slammed Nightmare aside. Sitting up, Conner raised a brow to see him shoving an unconscious Bialyian soldier off him as KF skid to a stop to his right. Nodding to each other, Wally ran into the shadows while Conner charged.

Gold eyes immediately focused on him, and Onyx dove under the superclone's swing, kicking his legs out from under him. Using the ground to his advantage, Superboy vaulted himself off the ground, kicking Onyx in the chest. "Come on Onyx, we're friends."

"No we aren't!" he growled getting to his feet.

"Yes we are. Do you remember? The Forever People? What did you tell me after that mission?" he said. Renegade grabbed his lasso, throwing it at Superboy who jumped back out of the way. "You told me that I didn't have to be what those scientists made me to be. I'm telling you that now, you aren't this Onyx!"

And for a moment, he could see the hesitation as a flash of recognition passed through his friend's eyes. That moment of hesitation was all they needed.

Kid Flash ran in, grabbing the lasso and wrapping it around the legs of its owner, knocking the hybrid teen to the ground. Superboy ran over, pulling Onyx into a choke hold from the back, wincing as the claws scraped at his arms, trying to loosen his grip so he could draw in air. Nightmare roared, flying into the air and Conner felt the air get knocked out of his chest as his back slammed into the marble walls of the Presidential Palace. The impact loosened his grip and they fell to the ground both trying to catch their breath. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a red and grey blur, Conner leapt and tackled Onyx again as KF ran by, dropping one of Robin's knockout devices. The green gas filled the air, and Conner ripped of the muzzle covering his friend's face. He just needed to hold his breath longer than Nightmare.

An explosion rocked the Presidential Palace and the hybrid female crashed to the ground covered in glowing green slime. "Not so invisible now are you?" Robin cackled.

She roared, leaping towards the Boy Wonder. Robin flipped out of the way, slapping an explosive to her back, that blasted her clear across the courtyard. Baring her fangs, she growled and ran over to a military truck, lifting it over her head and hurling it at Robin.

Using his grappling hook, Batman's protégé yanked himself out of harm's way, continuing to use his momentum to slam his feet into her face. She rolled back, slamming him with her tail, and knocking him to the ground. He heard steps running towards him, and Robin rolled out of the way as she punched the ground. Grabbing his taser, he took aim and fired.

The hybrid leader screeched as electricity arched over her. But, like Superboy, she ripped the cables off, however, unlike last time, Robin knew to let go. She ended up yanking on the taser, causing the small weapon to slam into her face as Rob threw another explosive. With a beep, it blasted her back, sending her rolling on the ground.

She got to her feet, panting; amber eyes assessing the situation. Baring her teeth, she retreated into the smoke and vanished.

-.-

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE PRESIDENT WON'T LET ME IN?! HE INVITED ME!" Queen Bee exclaimed as she stood in front of a line of soldiers.

"NOT OF MY OWN FREE WILL!" Harjavti exclaimed standing on a balcony with his daughter. "BUT NOW THAT I AM FREE, OF YOUR MINION'S THRALL, THE QURACI PEOPLE, WILL NEVER SUFFER YOUR TYRANNICAL RULE!"

"MARK MY WORDS HAVRJAVTI, YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! QURAC WILL BE MINE!"

Queen Bee left, leaving the sight of the cameras before turning invisible, flying back inside, M'gann transformed and joined the others.

"Sorry you had to lie to everyone like that," Robin apologized, "But I couldn't think of any other way to convince the people Queen Bee was behind this."

"Dude, saving a country, catching a prisoner, and rescuing our kidnapped teammate," Wally said smacking Robin's arm, "pretty big win for your first turn as leader."

Robin rubbed his arm. "Yeah, thanks."

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 15:45EST**

"How is he?" Diana asked. Her thumb trailed over the healing burns on his wrist. She felt anger, not only did they kidnap Onyx and force him to commit crimes against his will, but they _tortured_ him. Taking a calming breath, she looked at her son sleeping soundly just beside her; she gently took Onyx's hand to remind herself that he was still there, he was safe.

"I have managed to repair most the damage Psimon did to his memories," Manhunter nodded and Diana nearly slumped over in relief. "However, I did find something odd."

"What do you mean?" Batman frowned.

"An anomaly of some sort, deep in his subconscious. But when he's recovered more I want to check on it in case I'm wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

"It could be residual psychic damage," Manhunter began, "yet…it did not feel as such. It seemed put there, forcefully. But that's why I want give him time to recover. If it is damage, it will heal, if it is not, I can work to remove the foreign presence."

"But otherwise?"

"He's perfectly fine."

Diana sighed in relief. Reaching out, she carefully brushed some his bangs out of his face, smiling slightly as he unconsciously leaned into the touch with a soft exhale. "Can I take him home? Or does he need to be here for more observation?"

Bruce gave her a small nod, "He can go home. Just make sure to keep an eye on him."

"Oh, he's not leaving our sight for the next few days," she declared picking her son up. Grabbing his tail, she moved the extra appendage over one of his legs to avoid accidently tripping or stepping on it. With a nod to her teammates, Diana walked to the Zeta Tube, entering the coordinates for the entrance closest to Themiscyra.

-.-

Onyx groaned as he opened his eyes, his head hurt, why…gold eyes widened and he shot up with a shout, his gaze meeting the forms of Wonder Woman, his Aunt Donna, and his Grandmother.

Seeing him awake, Diana pulled her son into a tight hug, "Oh, Onyx, I was so worried."

"What…" he trailed off grabbing his head as memories began flooding back. Oh God…

Almost out of nowhere a bin was shoved in his lap as Onyx lost his lunch. A hand rubbed his back and he shivered. No, no, he didn't deserve comfort, not after what he did. He…he killed people, innocent people who'd done nothing wrong just because he was told to. He could still see their faces, see them begging for him to spare their lives before he just took that away from them. When he watched the life leave their eyes.

"Are you ok? Did they hurt you? Who do I need to kill? Where…" she trailed off seeing the tears forming in his eyes and she calmed herself down. Yes, she may've been worried out of her mind, but right now Onyx needed her.

"M-Mom?" he whimpered.

Diana's heart twisted, she had wanted him to say that word ever since she learned he was her son. But what destroyed her was the fact what made him say it was him being kidnapped, brainwashed, and waking up scared out of his mind.

"I'm right here sweetie," she hushed rubbing his head.

His arms wrapped around her and he began sobbing into her shoulder, "I-I'm so sorry! I-didn't mean to! Th-They made me—they made me do bad things. I'm so sorry Mom!"

"Shh, It's ok, you're ok," she whispered softly rocking him back and forth like her mother would on nights she had nightmares. "It's not your fault, ok? Whatever you did, it is absolutely, _not_ your fault. They made you do those things, ok honey? They didn't give you a choice. They would've hurt you if you disobeyed, right?"

Onyx whimpered, nodding through light sobs.

It broke Diana's heart to see her sweet little hunter so broken. "See, you were just trying to protect yourself. And that's ok. You were scared. But it's alright now, you're home."


	28. Faith and Trust

Chapter 27

**A/N: hey guys, I'm back! Happy Thanksgiving!**

**Now, I know some of y'all were wondering if Nightmare had killed people when he was with the raptors. The answer is: no. He'd seen people get killed by the pack and he's mauled a few, but he never actually killed them himself.**

**Furthermore, I know some are curious about what happened to Terrorwing, and don't worry, you'll find out in this chapter. I didn't forget about her (and no she was not stuck in the Bioship's closet for an extended period of time). And as for the dinosaurs themselves, you'll have to wait and see, I have plans.**

**Remember, I just own this story and my OCs.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks/dreams_**

**Themiscyra, November 24, 20:54EST**

Diana rubbed her eyes looking to the window watching silvery light filter through the curtains as a breeze ruffled them. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around. What woke her up?

Reluctantly sliding out of bed, she strode to the window. She grabbed a curtain as the breeze ruffled it towards her, pulling it back to look outside. In the fields she could see some of the horses grazing in the moonlight and hear the chirping of crickets just barely audible over the crashing of waves on the beach.

Everything was just as peaceful as it'd ever been.

So why was she awake?

Walking out of her room, she strode to a door across from her own. Reaching out to grab the doorknob, she frowned when she noticed it was already open. Pushing it open, her brows furrowed in concern when she saw her son's bed.

The covers were tossed around, and a few pillows fell off the bed. In the middle, Onyx was curling into a ball. From where she stood she could hear the soft whines, one of which got louder as her son curled up tighter.

Striding across the room, she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Onyx," she whispered gently shaking his shoulder. "Sweetie, wake up, it's just a dream." His voice raised an octave, and Diana pulled him up into a hug, rubbing his head. "Shh, Onyx, it's ok."

To her relief, golden eyes slowly opened, flickering around the room in confusion before his gaze met hers. The teen visibly relaxed, cuddling close to her, "Mom?"

"You ok?"

Onyx didn't reply, merely pressing close to her with a soft rumble.

"Bad dream?" she asked getting a small nod. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I…I was back," he gulped, "I was back _there_. With _them_. I—I misbehaved. And…and they…"

Diana squeezed tighter, rubbing his head. "It's ok. You don't have to say more," she reassured. "I know they hurt you sweetheart. And I promise, I will never let that happen again."

Onyx shifted closer, burying his head into her shoulder with soft purrs. Mother and son sat in comfortable silence, listening to the chirps of the crickets and the sounds of the horses out in the field.

Beside her, Onyx yawned, nuzzling beside her. "Love you Mom."

Blue eyes widened and she looked at him, watching as he drifted off. Tears pricked her eyes, this…this was the first time he ever actually said those words every parent wanted to hear. Her heart swelled, as it really began to hit her. She was a _mom_, an actual mother who cared and raised her child with the affection her own mother had showered her with as a child. Was this how her mother felt raising her and Donna?

Diana smiled fondly as she gently set Onyx back down on the bed, pulling the covers back over him. He looked so peaceful, just like any kid his age should be. A soft purr rumbled through him as he leaned into the hand rubbing his head, relaxing as he slipped even further under the thrall of sleep. Diana brushed his bangs aside, watching his breathing become slow and even. "Love you too Little Hunter," she whispered kissing his forehead. "Sweet dreams."

-.-

**Watchtower, November 25 6:54EST**

Wonder Woman stood with Superman and Batman stood overlooking the forest providing air in the League's orbiting headquarters, watching the world below them. "Times like these, one feels the very weight of the world on us," Diana spoke, breaking the peaceful silence.

Hearing footsteps, the three turned as Aquaman joined them. "Everyone's here." Nodding, the four Leaguers joined their comrades as the doors and windows sealed shut to prevent any possible surveillance. "Our agenda is clear. What's at stake should not be underestimated."

"The decisions we make today will reverberate for years to come."

"And influence whether of not the world will continue to put their trust in the Justice League."

"Please, take your seats. We have work to do," Batman said as they all sat down.

Martian Manhunter, however, remained standing at his seat. "Remember, another expansion of the League could initiate another escalation of hostilities from our enemies. No one needs or wants another Injustice League."

"Point Taken, but the option remains to vote no on all candidates," Superman reminded. "So, to start things off, I nominate Icon for League membership."

"Why?" Green Arrow scoffed. "Cause you suspect that Icon might be Kryptonian like you did with Captain Marvel?"

"You thought I was Kryptonian? Cool."

The Man of Steel looked a little crestfallen as his suggestion was almost immediately shot down, and Diana reached a hand out in reassurance. "Icon interests me also," she said, "as does his protégé, Rocket. Athena knows the League could use more female members."

"Agreed."

"Here, here!"

-.-

**Themiscyra, 12:35**

"Are you sure about this?" a guard asked following Onyx, Donna and the Queen as they walked down into the prison.

"It will be fine, she cannot escape," Hippolyta replied.

"So how is she?" Onyx questioned.

"Not well, she's refusing her rations. We hope you can at least talk some sense into her."

He nodded, stopping outside of a cell, peering in through the metal door where he saw the hybrid girl restrained. "I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises. The other hybrids and I weren't exactly…close."

His grandmother nodded, in understanding. "I'll leave you to it then," she said, "Artemis and Donna will stay with you."

"Just give a call if you need help," his aunt said leaning against the wall with her friend.

He nodded, opening the door and softly sealing it behind him. Through the dim lights of the dungeon, he could see the girl sitting on her bed, the inhibitor collar glowing around her neck. "Skylar."

Green eyes flickered up to him and narrowed. "Onyx. I see you've gone back to your old ways," she huffed, resting an arm on her knee. "Ever the renegade, as usual."

"Being a hero, is who I am," he replied, not so much even twitching as she used his old name. "I didn't want to be the monster they wanted us to become, so I made my own choice."

"I didn't see that behavior when you went to assassinate Perdita? Or when you killed Harjavti's guards?" she snickered. "Face it Onyx, you're more of a beast than I am. I at least haven't mercilessly slaughtered anyone."

Gold eyes narrowed. "You put an eight-year-old in the hospital."

Skylar shrugged, leaning back against the wall. "Hey, I was just following orders. Handle those who got in the Queen's way. I wasn't expecting your sidekick pals."

"Don't you even feel a bit of remorse?" he growled. "Don't you see what you're doing is bad?!"

"Of course I see it!" she snapped her wings flaring out. "Do you really think I chose this life?"

"None of us had a choice, Sky," he answered. "But I'm giving you one now. Start eating, start talking to us, and we can help you. Batman found my family, we can find yours too."

"Why? So they can see the freak they spawned?" she grumbled baring her own fangs at him. "It's easy for you to say, your mother was already mentoring you."

"And maybe you could have that too," he said stepping forwards and sitting next to her. "Think about it, if my mom's a hero, maybe one of your parents are too? They might even be in the League. You could use your powers still, but you could use them to help people. And, maybe, you could find a family along the way. I mean, look at me, I have more pack members than I know what to do with. I have a home with these people, and something tells me, maybe you could too if you really tried." He nudged her with his shoulder playfully. "Trust me."

Slitted green eyes narrowed. "Why should I?"

"Because I sat exactly where you are now, captured and not sure who I could trust. But unlike me, you have someone who knows what that's like, and I'm willing to help if you'd just give it a chance."

-.-

**Watchtower**

"Seriously? The Atom?" Captain Marvel scoffed. "How useful could he be at that size?"

"It's the size that makes him useful," Batman countered.

"Absolutely," Flash agreed. "Still, we could always use more raw power, and Earth as the third Green Lantern, Guy Gardner."

"No!"

"But we could really—"

"No!"

-.-

**Themiscyra**

"Don't freak out," Onyx said opening the door and pulling Skylar out as Donna and Artemis narrowed their eyes.

"What is the prisoner doing out of her cell brother?" Artemis said adjusting her grip on her spear.

"Guys, she's like me. She didn't really have a choice in what was going on," he defended. "I want to show her the good side of things, maybe convince her to join us—err, the heroes, I mean."

The younger princess aimed her spear at the winged-girl. "If you betray my nephew's trust, trust me when I say you'll regret it."

"Noted," Skylar said pushing the tip away from her. "Now, not that I believe this is going to work, but what are you wanting to show me?"

"There's a lot," Onyx smiled, "But why don't we start with something fun?" He ran to another room, bringing back two massive boxes.

-.-

**Watchtower**

"If we're really considering Blue Devil then I nominate Red Arrow," Green Arrow said. "He has more experience and he's no kid anymore, he's eighteen, a legal adult. He's ready."

"Is he?" Aquaman rebutted. "Red Arrow has been uncooperative and disrespectful. If we reward that behavior, what message are we sending to the rest of the Team?"

"Roy lost his respect for us when he discovered we lied to him about the Watchtower," Superman stated, "I can't say I really blame him."

"Then what about the rest of the team? Surely they felt the same way."

"No. We're not inducting the rest of the team, Red Arrow may be of age but the rest are too young. We aren't bringing children into the League."

"That seems myopic," Fate stated, "I have been one with both Kid Flash and Aqualad. They are ready."

"And what of Zatanna?" Diana prodded.

"Absolutely not!"

"That sounded almost protective Doctor. At least we know Zatara's still in there somewhere."

"Why is Dr. Fate a member?" Captain Marvel questioned. "You coerced Zatara to give up his life to you or lose his daughter instead. Not cool."

"Should such behavior be condoned?" Red Tornado inquired.

"Zatara desires Dr. Fate to remain in the League."

Green Arrow rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Oh please."

"It is true. Zatara's trust in Nabu is…measured. He desires the League to maintain a close watch on us."

-.-

**Themiscyra**

"I can't believe you talked us into this," Donna muttered as they snuck around the palace holding boxes filled to the brim with rubber ducks.

"You know it'll be funny."

"Where did you even get this idea?" Artemis questioned as she hid a duck in one of the bushes.

"The internet probably," Skylar replied putting a couple ducks in a chandelier. "How many of these things did you get?"

"Uh…about two hundred," he smiled nervously.

The three women looked between themselves then back at him. This prank so better be worth it.

-.-

**Watchtower**

"Plastic Man," Batman nominated and Marvel suppressed a snort.

"I dunno, the guy's got a pretty substantial criminal record," Flash frowned and Marvel lost it.

"I-I'm sorry, the guy just cracks me up," he said, his smile fading as he saw everyone looking at him.

"Maybe it's time we talked about the elephant in the room," Flash spoke up. "Should Captain Marvel stay a member now that we know he's really only ten?"

"He does possess and adult body and the wisdom of Solomon."

"Wisdom, does not equal maturity."

"I'm sitting right here!"

"Then Billy, maybe you should leave till we've hashed this out," Dinah said giving him a soft look.

"No. Captain Marvel is a member and is entitled to until or unless he's voted out."

Diana narrowed her eyes, "It's not just his age. It's the fact that he lied about it."

"I didn't lie. It just never came up."

"A lie of omission is still a lie," she responded, "you kept an important secret from us. No one in the League knew the truth."

"I did," Batman spoke up.

Diana scowled, of course he did. "Why am I surprised considering you indoctrinated Robin at the ripe old age of _nine_ into crimefighting."

"Robin needed to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice."

"So he could turn out like you?" she growled.

"So that he wouldn't."

"Ok, if we're nominating Robin, then what about Nightmare?" Green Arrow pointed out. "He's powerful, look what he did to Superman. Not to mention he's literally a living tracker and lie detector."

"No," Diana growled clenching her fist. She was not going to let them use her son like a weapon. "Onyx is still too young, and he's still learning how to control all of his powers."

"There's also the issue of what powers he could develop as he continues to grow," Batman added. "His father isn't human. There's no telling what he inherited."

"Not to mention he still is getting used to humanity after three years of isolation," Dinah added.

"Agreed," Manhunter said, "but what of Miss Martian? We've seemed to reach the consensus of eighteen, but while an adolescent by Martian standards, Miss Martian was born thirty-four Earth years ago."

"So what's the deciding factor? Chronology or biology?" Tornado pointed out. "Take Superboy."

"Exactly," Canary agreed. "He's less than a year old, does he have to wait seventeen more to stand beside us?"

-.-

**Themiscyra**

"I can't believe we hid two-hundred fricking ducks in the palace," Donna snorted as the group sat on the beach.

"I know, wonder who'll find one first?" Artemis snickered as she imagined the confusion on one of their sister's faces as they found a random yellow duck before finding more. "They're probably going to think they're going nuts."

"I still can't believe Onyx went into Mother's chambers!" Donna exclaimed. "How many did you hide in there?"

He laughed quietly, falling onto his back, "I hid twenty! God, I can't wait for when she finds them!"

"I hid some in the kitchen, I bet that'll be confusing," Artemis said. "So, girlie, where'd you hide yours?"

Skylar scratched her cheek, "I found some pool area further underground, so I stuck a bunch in there and made it look like they were emerging from that hole."

The three Amazons cracked up. "They're gonna think these stupid ducks are coming from there!" Onyx laughed, holding his sides.

"Gods, I can see them digging a whole new chamber just to find where they were coming from!" Donna exclaimed.

"Ok, I may've had my doubts about this at first, but if we die for this, it was so worth it!"

"Just wait till I show you guys the _real_ pranks!" Nightmare grinned.

"WE'RE IN!"

-.-

**Watchtower**

"No other ideas?" Superman asked looking around the room to see if anyone was going to speak up. Getting no response he continued, "Then here are our candidates for new or continued membership in the Justice League."

"We've debated origin, gender, size, experience, age, temperament, and background. But, what is the fundamental criteria for membership?"

"When all is said and done, the question must be: who do we trust?" Wonder Woman spoke. "Trust to fight beside us? Trust to have our backs? Trust to uphold the high standards and ideals of the Justice League."

"Time to vote."

-.-

"All those in favor of ratifying the results?" Batman asked.

"Aye," everyone agreed.

"All opposed?"

No one spoke up.

"Then we are adjourned," Batman said dismissing them. Everyone began to get up, and the Dark Knight nodded to Diana and Dinah. "Hawkman, Hawkwoman, we need to talk."

The couple looked at each other and nodded, remaining in the room with the other three Leaguers as everyone else left. "What is it?" Hawkman inquired.

"As I'm sure you two are aware," Batman began pulling up a file of a struggling Pteranodon girl, "several days ago, the Team managed to capture one of the hybrids on their mission to Qurac. I've managed to go through her DNA to determine who her parents are. She's your daughter."

-.-

**Themiscyra, 15:34**

"Diana," Hippolyta greeted as her daughter arrived with Hawkman and Hawkwoman in tow, Batman's plane landing in the field nearby, letting the Dark Knight off followed by a blonde woman.

"Hello Mother," she replied. "I'm sure you remember Batman, Hawkwoman, and her husband Hawkman?"

"Yes."

"This is Black Canary."

"Pleasure to meet you," Dinah smiled and Hippolyta nodded.

"I assume you're here for the girl?" Hippolyta spoke.

"Yes."

"You'll find her at the training fields."

Diana stepped forwards, alarmed, "The training fields?"

Her mother chuckled, "She didn't escape if that's what you're worried about. Your son is more like you than you know."

Raising a brow at that, Diana led the way to the training grounds where numerous Amazons could be seen sparring. Her gaze flickered over the field, and rested on Artemis and Donna leaning against the cliff wall watching the two young teens. She released a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding as she saw Onyx showing the girl how to hold a broadsword.

"Got that?" Onyx asked picking up his own blade.

"Feels weird," Skylar commented adjusting her grip.

"That's cause you've never used a sword before. I had the benefit of learning the katana from a young age, so it was something I already had an idea how to work with," he replied. "Ready?"

"No."

He smiled, "Good." Metal clanged together, as the teens began to spar. Onyx clearly had the advantage, but was taking it easy on his opponent. Jumping back a few steps, he swung again, giving her time to parry. "Better. Use both hands if you aren't carrying a shield. It makes the blade easier to control."

She nodded, before lunging at him. Onyx parried the strike, turning around and using his tail to knock her legs out from under her. "Hey!"

"Always expect the unexpected."

Diana rolled her eyes, at least he took her lessons to heart. "Onyx!"

The fourteen-year-old turned and a grin split his face. "Mom!" he called flying over and hugging her. "How was your trip to…" he trailed off glancing at the other hybrid, "you know?"

"It went well," she said rubbing his head, smiling lightly as he purred, "I'm glad to see you're doing fine too. Excited for Thanksgiving this evening?"

"Robin said he was going to bring his video game system!" he nodded, "Oh! Skylar!"

The girl spread her wings, flying over nervously and landing some distance away. "Guess it's time for my interrogation?"

"Not exactly," Batman said. "Do you know who your genetic donors are?"

She scoffed, "No. And I knew better than to ask."

"Because you'd be punished?" Hawkman spoke up, causing the girl's green eyes to move to him.

"Isn't that obvious?" she muttered crossing her arms as her wings pulled closer to her. "Why're you here?"

"Skylar, meet your biological parents, Hawkman and Hawkwoman."

-.-

**Themiscyrian Embassy, 20:33EDT**

"How's Skylar doing?" Diana questioned Bruce as she sat down on the couch across from him and beside her sister—whom had decided she wanted to join them to find out what _Thanksgiving_ was.

"I think she'll recover and be an asset to the team," Batman answered thinking back to the girl's encounter with her parents.

Naturally, she'd been as shocked as Onyx had been when Batman found his mother. She, however, did not process it as easily. After about a solid thirty minutes of shouting and screaming at her parents while Onyx and Donna held her back, she eventually calmed down. Long enough for them to give them time to actually talk to her.

And in the end, she, begrudgingly, agreed to stay with them. This way the Hawks could get to know their daughter, and hopefully, convince her to join the team. Naturally, she'd still wear the inhibitor until they were sure she wouldn't betray them.

"I hope so," Diana agreed taking a sip of her wine.

"Team?" Donna questioned raising a brow.

"Earlier this summer we formed a small team for our proteges, this way they can all have a chance to learn teamwork before joining the League."

"Is Onyx on it?"

Diana nodded, "He's been a member since August."

"That's great, he needs kids his age."

"How's Onyx handling his new ability?" Batman interrupted. While he didn't mind the sisters' conversation, he was more concerned about the development of _another_ power so soon after he got the last one. It meant that the boy had a lot more in him that what they knew about, there was no telling what kind of threat he could pose should he be turned against them again. And while he hoped Onyx would only inherit his mother's abilities, he had a hunch that he wasn't done gaining power yet.

"New power?"

"The lightning," she answered.

"Oh, that," Donna grimaced rubbing her arm from where her nephew had shocked her when she startled him the other day.

"He's accidently shocked us a few times and he's short-circuited as few things," Diana replied. "The power mostly seems rooted in his temper right now; it gets more powerful when he's frustrated or mad. So we're trying to keep him calm until he learns how to control it."

"How did he initially develop his flight again?"

Wonder Woman raised a brow? "What?"

Bruce leaned forwards, his face unreadable, "How did Artemis report him developing flight? It was when he got mad right?"

"What are you saying Bruce?"

"I think his powers might have ties to his emotional state, more specifically, anger. I don't believe that they control his powers, but it might be logical to assume that a state or anger or fear could trigger their development in an effort to protect himself."

Diana leaned back, thinking back to WWI. She'd been like that too with a sizable portion of her powers. She hadn't discovered she could fly, or be invulnerable, or summon lightning till she lost Steve. "I guess he's taken after me more than we thought."

"You were fueled by grief Diana," Bruce interjected, "he's fueled by anger. There's a big difference there."

"Really?" she countered. "Think about the five stages of grief, Bruce. Anger is one of them. You should know that better than anyone. I know you're concerned about him, I am too, but I'm not going to sit in fear of what my own son may or may not be capable of."

"But precautions might be necessary. We don't know what his father is, or even what he could develop," he reminded.

Donna scowled, she suddenly remembered why their tribe didn't like men—Onyx was the exception, he was a sweet, shy, little goofball—but the rest were jerks. "Onyx isn't a threat!"

"Not yet."

Gritting her teeth, Diana go up and walked to the kitchen as Donna started to yell at the Dark Knight, she trusted that her little sister wouldn't kill him. She gave Alfred a nod as the butler helped clear the dinner table—years of this routine just teaching the Amazons to let the man do his thing, it would be one less thing they had to do. Opening the fridge, she grabbed the pies, setting them out on the counter and cutting them into even slices.

She was mad at Bruce, she understood he worried about what could go wrong, but she didn't need to see the concern. How could he think her son would betray them when he was so scared of messing up even on the smallest things?

It hadn't been hard for her to figure out that her son had been abused, mentally and physically, he had the scars to prove it. But during his time with her and the team, she could see him recovering. Watching as the shy, quiet, anxious boy who flinched whenever someone reached a hand towards him turned into a smiling ball of eternal energy and excitement who loved hugs and became a purring mess when his head was rubbed.

On his first night back home on Themiscyra after his kidnapping, Onyx started having night terrors; screaming loud enough to wake them all in the middle of the night—her sisters (Donna and Artemis especially) had been hunting for blood when they heard him begging for the pain to stop. And when they did wake him up, he spent almost an hour begging them not to hurt him cause he'd "misbehaved". If anything, that made the Amazons want the blood of those who tortured him more.

But what she feared were the nights were when they couldn't wake him up. Diana would only be able sit there and hope her reassurances could reach him through the veil of sleep as he relived whatever horrors lied in his past. She had a sinking suspicion that the dreams were about his time in the lab or when he'd been kidnapped.

Onyx admitted _everything_ that he did when he'd been under Bialya's control. Simply because he'd been scared. Scared of what would happen if he misbehaved. He was terrified of being _punished. _Because all the progress he made had been completely and utterly destroyed in less than a month. So, yes, she was mad at Bruce for distrusting him. The boy had bigger things to focus on than Batman's distrust.

Onyx needed to focus on recovering, and Diana was thankful that Dinah volunteered to open more therapy hours for him. If he wouldn't talk to her, she at least hoped Dinah would be able to help her boy.

"Boys! Dessert!" she called pulling out some plates and she heard the videogame in the next room over stop.

"HEY! YOU CHEATED!" Dick's familiar voice called after a light thud.

She raised an eyebrow as Onyx flew in landing in front of her, before a pillow hit him in the back of the head. Onyx turned to rebuke Robin when a second pillow hit him square in the face and the Boy Wonder just stood there with a proud smirk.

"Boys," she scolded gently as they each reached for a pillow. They glanced at each other then back at her and she could see the debate of going through with the pillow fight anyways running through their heads. Crossing her arms, Diana raised a brow.

"Sorry Mom/Sorry Aunt Diana," they said lowering their weapons.

She rolled her eyes, making a plate of her own. "Come get a slice," she motioned.

She hadn't been expecting both to steal both the pumpkin and chocolate pies for themselves and break for it. Blinking to get over her shock she yelled after them, "BOYS!"

But, despite the fact the she knew she should've been mad, she smiled as she heard them laugh.


	29. Cracking Under Pressure

Chapter 28

**A/N: hey guys! I'm back with another chapter. Remember, I just own my hybrid OCs and that's it.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks/dreams_**

**Mt. Justice, December 5, 12:04EST**

"So Onyx, how are you doing?" Black Canary spoke softly keeping herself relaxed as her patient sat across from her looking small.

He gave her a small shrug and Dinah refrained from frowning. That wasn't a good sign. She understood Onyx was a little quieter than the other members of the team, but he'd been retreating further into himself since his rescue. Diana said he acted happy around everyone else, but she could tell something wasn't quite right.

He was starting to internalize things, and, soon, he would no doubt drown in his own thoughts. "Onyx?" she spoke again, slowly leaning forwards observing as he watched her warily. "Is something wrong?"

A small bit of movement near his feet caught her attention and Dinah watched as his tail slowly curled closer to his body as he shrunk back. He was stiff, almost like he was ready to run at a moment's notice; however, she could still make out the small tremors running through him. He was terrified.

"Do you think I'm going to hurt you?"

Gold eyes met hers for a brief moment and they quickly diverted back to the floor as he gave her a small nod.

Black Canary felt sadness at that answer. Just how badly had he been treated for him to get this bad this fast? "Is that why you're scared?"

A small nod again, his body shaking with fear.

She reached a hand out to comfort him before pulling it back in second thought as she watched him shrink back. "Onyx, I'm not going to hurt you."

At long last, the boy finally spoke up, "Cause I haven't been bad?"

"No, no, you haven't been bad Onyx," she reassured quickly.

"Then…" he trailed off pulling his knees to his chest.

"Then what?"

"Then do you not care?"

Her heart stopped. Screw professional appearance, this needed to be nipped in the bud _immediately_.

Getting up, she knelt down resting her hands on his shoulders, wincing as he violently flinched at the contact. "Onyx, look at me. _Who_ told you that?"

"M-Master," he stuttered. "He—he…I make him hurt me. When I'm bad. He says its cause he cares."

No matter how many times she heard things like this over the years, it never became any easier. Canary chewed the inside of her cheek, leaning back on her ankles. Just telling the victim the abuse was a form of affection was a bad case, but making them believe that _they_ were the reason for the abuse…This was severe abuse, worse than she'd been expecting.

"Alright Onyx, I need you to listen to me, ok?" she said watching him as his gaze met hers and he gave a small nod. "What that bastard did to you is _wrong_. You are not at fault, and that is definitely not because he cares. You want to know who really cares about you?"

He nodded.

"Diana, your mother, she cares for you. The team cares about you, and the Amazons care about you. Tell me, have they _ever_, even once, _intentionally_ harmed you?" she asked.

Onyx shook his head, "No."

"Ok, what do they do with you?" she prodded, trying to get him to think of good experiences between them.

"W-We train."

"What else?"

"We play games and watch movies," he spoke, sounding a little more confident.

She nodded, now they were getting somewhere. "And what about if you misbehave? What happens then? Are you hurt of scolded?"

"Scolded, and maybe grounded."

"And what did he do?"

Onyx looked down, "He'd beat me, or electrocute me, or both. Sometimes they put me in the pit."

"The pit?"

Onyx looked a little uncertain for a moment. "It's just what it was called, I don't remember much. It hurt more than anything else did. I was always happier when I'd get a beating instead of going there." Golden eyes flickered up at her for a moment and Onyx shrunk in on himself once more. "But Master would always comfort me after, praise me for being good. For taking my punishment. For being obedient. That's good right?"

It was a heartbreaking admission to hear from the boy. Dinah noted that she would need to probably treat the teen for torture as well; there might even be a chance he had PTSD from such severe abuse for years.

"No Onyx," she spoke softly. "That was wrong. You shouldn't have to endure that."

"But…But I was good."

"Yes, _you_ were, Onyx," she emphasized. "_You_ did nothing wrong, nothing to deserve that…" she trailed off trying to think of what to say to the obviously lost teen in front of her. It was devastating to see such a bright, happy boy, reduced to this small ball of anxiety. But, at the same time, it also explained so, so much of his early behavior at the Cave.

Onyx grew up in this type of environment: a highly abusive and manipulative one where the abuser made the victim believe everything was completely their fault. It explained why he always shied away from her in training when he messed up, why he tended to stay out of team conflicts; he didn't want to make anyone mad. And while he certainly wasn't trying to please everyone, he was certainly trying to please the adults.

"Listen," she began calmly, "mistakes are normal, especially for someone your age. It's ok to mess up, it's ok to fail—"

"No! No! No!" the boy hissed digging his claws into his palms with wide, terrified eyes. "Fail—Failure—Failing means—means…" he trailed off, glancing nervously around the room as he began to hyperventilate. "I—I can't…no!"

"Onyx," she said, resting her hands on his shoulder. "Onyx, look at me, focus on me. Ok?"

His slitted pupils glanced behind her before coming back and if anything he breathing got worse. He might be about to have a panic attack. "I'm sorry!" he whimpered squeezing his eyes shut as small tears began to run down his cheeks. "I'll be good, I promise!"

"Onyx, look at me," Dinah spoke again gently bringing his head up, "it's ok. You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. No one's going to hurt you for a mistake, everyone makes mistakes, even me. No one will hurt you for failing a mission, I've failed missions, Batman's failed missions, even your mom's failed some. It's perfectly normal. You won't be punished like that ever again."

Onyx sniffed, glancing up at her nervously. "Promise?"

"Promise."

This case was going to take time, but she was willing to help him recover.

-.-

"Recognized Artemis—B07."

"Artemis!" Green Arrow called as he stood with the rest of the Team, Hawkman, and Hawkwoman. "Perfect timing. Come meet your new teammates!"

"Finally!" Wally said slapping Red Arrow on the back.

"Sure, the team's needed a real archer," the blonde grumbled walking over, looking over the girl with wings. "And who are you?"

"Remix," she replied as her eyes narrowed behind her mask, "Hawkman's and Hawkwoman's daughter."

"Why not Hawkgirl?" Wally questioned.

The girl smirked, "Because we all know the remix is better than the original."

Hawkman rolled his eyes rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I regret giving you that idea."

"Alright, listen up. The Dynamic Duo is doing their thing in Gotham, but Batman gave me a heads up," the Archer said typing on the monitor. "Sportsmaster was spotted coming from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport."

"In full costume? Nervy," Zatanna commented.

"In street clothes," Green Arrow replied. "Facial recognition software picked up the ID. Find out what he's up to."

"All of us? Seems like a lot for a shadow op," Superboy remarked.

"Perhaps a small team would work better," Red Tornado said. "Miss Martian's camouflage abilities seem ideal."

"Thought the sidekicks—err, ex-sidekicks, could suit up on this one, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Red Arrow," Arrow replied. "The rest of you have a different assignment."

"I want in," Artemis spoke up. "With M'gaan and Robin out, no one else has logged more hours piloting the Bioship."

"Artemis, are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

GA nodded. "Alright, you have your mission. The rest of you, it's time you learned yours," he said typing on the monitor again showing news feeds. "Now, I'm sure as you're all aware, recently there's been a debate on what to do with the remaining Dinosaurs currently under threat of Isla Nublar's Volcano, Mt. Sibo, which was classified as active as of a few months ago. As of yesterday, the US Congress has determined that these animals are the result of a private venture and are to be left to die, despite the protests of millions worldwide. The Justice League has partnered with Sir Benjamin Lockwood, the man who helped John Hammond develop the cloning technology that made Jurassic World possible. He's found an isolated island that was previously used in InGen's work, much like Sorna and the rest of the islands in that chain before Wayne bought them while the Masrani Corp was trying to settle lawsuits. They've secured a transport ship that can have the animals safely transported to the island of Isla Nycta. You all will be working with the League to transport the animals off the island before the Volcano erupts."

"Yes! League-Team team up!" Zatanna cheered. "This so beats the espionage mission!"

"Aw man!" KF whined.

-.-

**Isla Nublar**

"Wow, so this is Isla Nublar?" Nightmare said as the group flew through the valley between the green mountains of the tropical island.

"Yeah, it's much prettier in daylight," Remix remarked gazing around. "Is Sorna like this?"

"Yeah, but, bigger," he replied.

"Guys!" Superman called flying over.

"Superman," Hawkman greeted.

"Come on, the camp's over this way," the Man of Steel said. Following the Blue Boy Scout, they came upon a large dock with people running around, and various Leaguers working on loading animals or finding an alternative way to move them.

"Well, the whole party's here!" a man in military style clothes clapped with a small group of people trailing behind him. "Name's Ken Wheatley, I'm running the operation over here. You must be Prince Onyx."

"That's me," he replied shaking the man's hand.

"Oh, this is someone you'd like to meet, Owen Grady, the Raptor Wrangler," he said pushing a tall ginger forwards.

"Animal behaviorist," the man corrected tossing a glare at Ken before holding out a hand to Nightmare. "So, you're the Prince of Beasts?"

"And you're the trainer?" Nightmare replied crossing his arms.

"OH GOD! IT'S HOT!"

"Hello there, I'm Claire Dearing, this is Dr. Zia Rodriguez, and Franklin Webb," the redheaded woman said.

"So Superman, what are we all doing?" Superboy questioned.

"Hawkman, Hawkwoman, and Remix, you three are on air patrol, try to herd the fliers towards Nycta or Sorna, Red and Captain Marvel are getting started. Zatanna, you can go work with the Lanterns, use your magic to start transporting animals onto their constructs. Miss Martian, you're with Manhunter, you two will be on the island fringes rescuing animals that go astray or fall in the water. Aquaman is handling the aquatic and amphibious creatures, so you shouldn't need to worry about them. Once you have stragglers take them to the Lanterns, Flash, Dr. Fate or put them on a transport. Superboy, you're with Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, and I rounding up the big ones. We'll bring them back here for transport."

"Wait, what about me?" Onyx spoke up.

Ken was the one who replied, "We need you with the wrangler. If he can't get through to the beast then you probably could. Let's move!"

The Hawks, Miss Martian, Superman, and Superboy on the Supercycle flew off to do their jobs, leaving Onyx and Zatanna on the ground. "Good luck, Night," the magician nodded.

"You too," he replied grabbing the side of one of the trucks as everyone else began to load up. There was no way he was going to stay inside for being back on one of the islands again.

The vehicles began driving, stopping in a gate as the door closed behind them before the next one opened in front. Rumbling along through the jungle, Nightmare sniffed the air. It smelled just like Sorna, God he missed it.

Opening his eyes, they trailed along the crumbling structures of buildings. While it may've smelled like his home island, it sure didn't look like it. He'd have to pay a visit to his pack, show them he was still alive and all right.

The truck jerked to a stop, nearly throwing the hybrid off as his grip tightened, denting the metal under his fingers. He lifted his head to glare at the driver, before he understood why as rhythmic thumping shook through him.

Steps that were too big to be a Rex.

Hopping down, Nightmare smiled as he watched the Brachiosaur approach. He'd forgotten how beautiful these great beasts were. While they were almost impossible to hunt at this size, he always enjoyed watching them. They were always so calm and graceful in the way they moved, as if they knew they were practically untouchable beings save in the eyes of the larger predators.

There had even been one herd that let him feed and pet them. The colorful gentle giants had always been so calm around him; they would even let him sit on their backs and play with their hatchlings. They never feared the raptors because they didn't have to. That was one of the things he loved about them, Brachiosaurs were complete sweethearts.

"Look at that. I never thought I'd see one in real life," Zia whispered. "She's beautiful."

"They always are," Nightmare smiled, looking up as he saw Superman approaching. At least this one would continue to live, Brachiosaurs were always such gentle giants.

"We should get back in the truck!" Franklin squeaked as the hero began to lure the lumbering herbivore away with a tree.

-.-

Nightmare shifted from foot to foot as he observed the volcano. Everyone else was currently inside the complex trying to access the systems, but every instinct of his was screaming to keep an eye on the smoking mountain. The earth shook beneath his feet, and he watched vents begin to open.

The hybrid frowned, crouching down and spreading his palm against the dirt. He could feel slight tremors in the rock, and at that moment another vent opened further up the mountain. They didn't have long. An hour, at most.

"We got her location," Zia said stomping out towards the truck.

"Awesome, where?"

"Few miles north."

"Sweet, let's move. I don't wanna be here when that blows."

-.-

Nightmare peered through the window looking at the tracker in Grady's hand as he held onto the side of the truck. His gaze watched Blue's patterns carefully, she was moving, that much was obvious, but where was the question. As they grew closer, she moved deeper into the jungle, closer to the volcano.

He found that alarming. It meant one of several things: she was hunting, she was being hunted, she knew they were there, or…or her time of isolation had driven her mad. Raptors, like humans, were highly social creatures, they _needed_ interaction. Being isolated for three years hadn't likely been good for her—in all likelihood, there might even be a chance she was feral.

He'd seen a feral raptor once, when he was still a hatchling. He'd been hunting with the pack and had gotten separated when the juvenile diplodocus' tail had swatted him over cliff and into the river. He had ambushed him, tried to kill him. No form of communication had been able to reach the feral male no matter how hard he tried. Onyx had no choice but to put him down.

He prayed that he wouldn't need to put down another of his kind.

The truck jerked to a stop, and he hopped off, crossing his arms as Grady stepped out to join him. "Clare, Nightmare and I are goin' in on foot, so we'll need you to be our eyes in case she runs," the trainer spoke.

Sniffing, he wrinkled his nose at the putrid smell of sulfur permeating the air. Smell wasn't going to be much help on this mission, unfortunately. He'd have to rely on sound.

A shrill call came from above, and gold eyes gazed past the canopy, narrowing as the forms of pterosaurs passed above with RT chasing them. Judging from their lack of resistance to Red's efforts, they didn't have long.

"Let's move," he said grabbing the tracker and walking into the jungle, with the trainer protesting behind him.

"Jeez, no need to be so snippy," Grady grumbled yanking the tracker back.

Nightmare turned to look at him, before pointing at the volcano. "We don't have time for games. And, I don't know about you, but I've been on islands with erupting volcanoes before. It's an experience I'd rather not repeat. Now, judging from the behavior of all the other animals on this island as well as my own instincts, I _know_ that volcano is going to blow soon. We have an hour, tops."

At that, Grady went quiet, nodding his head. Stepping forwards, he crouched down, using his fingers to brush some leaves aside. "Fresh tracks."

Sniffing the air, Nightmare concurred, "I smell her, she's close."

"Wheatley we've got fresh sign, over," Owen informed as Onyx strode forwards.

**"Hello?"** he called out, listening to the foliage around him warily. **"Hello?!"**

The bushes by an overturned car, rustled and he stepped forwards giving short clicks. Offering a cautious, but nonthreatening greeting.

When the small green ones hopped out, he growled and snatched one up, quickly snapping its neck. He could eat it later. "First off, gross," Owen commented. "Secondly: where is she? Tracker says she should be right here?"

"Do you think she could've—"

**"WHO ARE YOU?!" **

Nightmare spun on his heel, settling into a crouch as a dappled grey raptor with gold eyes and blue stripes sprung onto the overturned car.

"Hey, girl," Owen greeted, "you miss me?"

Her eyes snapped to the other man and she hopped off the car. **"You…"**

"Uh, Grady, she's not happy with you," Nightmare warned stepping between them.

"I figured," he muttered reaching into his pocket, "Hey Blue, I brought you somethin'." Pulling out a piece of jerky, he tossed it to the raptor with a smile.

It quickly vanished when it simply bounced off her nose. **"You left. You left us…"**

**"I'm sure he didn't mean to,"** Onyx spoke up and her gold-green eyes snapped to him.

**"What?"** she chittered cocking her head.

Nightmare trilled his own greeting, **"I'm Nightmare. It's nice to meet you Blue. Can you tell me why you're mad at him?"**

Her eyes narrowed. **"He let my sisters die! Alpha let his pack die! And then he left me! Alone!"**

Onyx's eyes softened, understanding the source of her pain. **"That must've been hard. And I know he hurt you. But I have a pack, a pack you can join if you just come with me. You won't have to worry about going hungry, you won't have to worry about being alone. I promise."**

Blue shifted from foot to foot, her tail swaying slightly. To the untrained eye, it might've looked like she was just shifting like normal, but to him it was obvious: she wasn't sure. She wanted to believe him, but at the same time believed it was too good to be true.

**"Blue, trust me when I say that you and I, we aren't so different,"** Onyx began talking a step towards her.** "We were both grown in labs by humans, we both had humans commanding us, telling us what to do, where to go, and how to behave. And I know how great that first rush of freedom can be. When I first escaped my cage, I couldn't wait to get my next taste. But the loneliness afterwards…it hurt. Just like I know you're hurting now," **he pressed his nose up near hers, releasing a light purr. **"I promise. I can help you. You won't have to feel this way ever again."**

Blue puffed air through her nose, the breath lightly rustling his bangs. After a moment, a grey, scaled snout stretched forwards and nuzzled his cheek releasing her own purr. She accepted the bargain.

Stepping back, Onyx turned to Grady. "She's willing to come back with us."

The man stood there gob smacked, a teenager had just done what he spent years working towards in less than five minutes. But, he did have to remind himself that said teen was a half-raptor superhero; so technically he had an unfair advantage.

**"Is he always this stupid?"**

Blue snorted, **"Yes."**

That peaceful moment was broken by a dart implanting itself in Blue's neck. With a pained yelp, she turned to her attacker as Onyx growled threateningly as he saw Wheatley. "WHAT THE FUCK?! WE SAID WAIT FOR THE SIGNAL!"

**"You…You said…"**

**"I know!"** Onyx snapped baring his fangs at the hunter. **"And I wasn't the one who ordered it."**

**"We should kill them!"** Blue snarled stumbling slightly as the drug began to effect her.

**"Later. We need to get off this island first,"** he said crouching down and hefting the raptor onto his back. "I'll see you at the boat."

Flying into the air, he flew Blue towards the truck bed on the ship all ready for her. It would save him energy for when he took her to Sorna.

-.-

"Owen Grady? Zia Rodriguez? What happened?" Remix said landing beside the downed duo.

"Those bastards tranqu'ed us," Zia slurred angrily trying to get to her feet. "They left us for de'd."

The hybrid girl bit her lip looking at the rivers of lava starting to flow down the steep slopes of the volcano. Reaching up to her comms, she called for an assist, "Zatanna, I need some back up."

/What's going on?/

"Grady and Rodriguez are down, I can't move them both at the same time….They said…"

/Said what?/ Zatanna asked. /Remix what's going on?/

"They said they left them here to die."

/Shit, the Leaguers just left to transport the animals they couldn't get on the boat to Nycta. I'll be there soon!/

"Got it," she said. "Ok, let's at least get you two started moving." Grabbing both of their arms, she began dragging them through the jungle. She saw a clearing not too far from where they were earlier right?

-.-

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Claire said into a radio, trying to call for help from the bunker they were locked in. "Hello?! Is someone there? Can anybody copy?"

"I'm trying everything I can, but everything is—AHH!" he screamed as the door was ripped off its hinges and Superboy stood there.

"What happened?"

Frank slumped in his chair, "Oh thank God you're not a T-Rex."

"They locked us in here!" Claire explained tossing her arms in the air. "They…left us!"

The building shook, and Superman's sidekick glanced at the doors. "We need to go, you can explain on the way!" Running outside, they jumped onto the supercycle. It was time to figure out what the hell was going on here.

-.-

"YOU TOO?!" Zia called as they caught up with the Supercycle flying alongside Miss M and the heroes who saved them.

"THEY TRIED KILL YOU GUYS?!" Claire called.

Owen nodded flexing his hand as he tried to regain feelinging. "YEP! THEY LEFT US TO BURN ALIVE BY LAVA! WHAT ABOUT YOU?!"

"PROBABLY THE SAME!"

_"Why were they left for dead?"_ Zatanna questioned.

_What's going on? Where are you guys? The ship's about to depart," _Onyx's voice interrupted.

_"We got a problem, our new friends might not be who they think they are."_

Even through the telepathic link they could feel their teammate's rage and hear his growl. _"What do you mean?"_

_"They left Claire, Zia, Franklin, and Owen for dead."_

_"What?! I was just with Zia and Owen a few minutes ago! I thought they were riding back with Ken!"_

_"Apparently not. Is he back yet?"_

_"Not yet. But if you get here quickly I can hide you all in a trailer with Blue next to some Brachiosaur I found wandering to the docks. Then we can figure out what these guys are really into,"_ Onyx said. _"The League?"_

_"Comms have been down since the volcano started and they're out of my telepathic range,"_ M'gann replied.

_ "Figures. Besides, even if they weren't they'd still have to transport the dinos to Nycta or Sorna first. We're on our own."_


	30. Auction Clock

Chapter 29

**A/N: hey guys! I'm back! Now, I'm sure y'all don't wanna hear me ramble too much before the story starts cause y'all wanna see what happens to all the innocent dinos the League couldn't move off the island themselves.**

**So remember, I just own my OCs and the story, that's it.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Isla Nublar, December 5, 16:02**

"Edih ohw ew era morf esoht ohw entaerht su," Zatanna said as they landed on the loading doc. "Ekam a ekaf noisrev fo Yobrepus no Erehps."

_"Guys!_" A voice called telepathically making Franklin squeak and hold his head.

"What was that?!"

"Nightmare," Zatanna smirked seeing their friend jogging towards them. "I used a spell, they won't recognize us."

_"Ok, act natural. We don't want to seem suspicious,"_ he said. Turning around, he lead the way to the ship. _"As far as they're concerned you're gone. So I'll pretend to leave then sneak back on board. We can figure out exactly what these guys intend to do with these dinosaurs."_

_"I can sneak you back in using my camouflage,"_ M'gann agreed.

_"Perfect,"_ Onyx said opening the back of a truck. _"I'll call you when I need help getting back in. Just stay here with Blue. Ember, Rosy, Lily, River, and Branch will keep guys from peering in here."_

_"Who?"_ Remix questioned sitting down by the raptor.

There was a loud croon from their left and they all jumped as a large brown mass they thought to be supplies turned out to be a group of Brachiosaur. The female closest to them lifted her massive head up into the air, before lowering back down and softly sniffed at Nightmare, who happily rubbed her nose.

_"Meet Rosy. I found her and her herd when I was bringing Blue back. And after I put her in the truck, I just couldn't leave them there, so…"_

_"You brought them,"_ Remix finished seeing his nervous smile._ "God, you're such a softie for an Amazon."_

Nightmare merely smiled, _"I try. Anyways! I'll be back!"_ Closing the curtains. The group waited for his return as they felt the boat move under them, hoping they wouldn't be found.

"You heading out?" Ken said.

"Yep," Onyx lied putting on a fake smile and he lifted his tail to make his appearance more relaxed. "Thanks for coming out to save these guys. I wanted to stay to help bring them to Nycta, but there's an emergency I've gotta handle, so…"

"Oh, yeah, it's no problem. We're more than happy to work things out here," Ken smiled shaking his hand.

"Tell Claire and Owen it was nice to meet them," he said noticing the man's scent change to one of fear. "I hope to see them around some time." Turning away, Onyx smirked to himself as he ran off the closing ramp as the boat left the island and flew up into the sky. He'd follow silently from above for an few hours then go back in. He was going to figure out what the hell was going on.

-.-

**Lockwood Estate, 16:35**

/Mr. Mills. Your visitors are here/

Eli Mills turned his gaze away from the tracker and straightened himself out. No reason to let his colleagues see him looking a tad frazzled after the stress of making sure all the valuable creatures were off the island. He had to admit, obtaining the Justice League's assistance had been a wise move, one he likely would not have taken without his friend's advice. They got more species than they knew what to do with. Sure some of the other valuable breeds were taken to another island, but they could be harvested later.

Walking down the stairs, he saw Lex Luthor and Mr. Eversol talking quietly in the showroom. "Lex, I'm glad to see you could make it," Eli said shaking his friend's hand.

"And I'm more than glad to be here, Eli. I take it our venture has payed off?"

"The cargo is on its way as we speak."

"Wonderful. Eli, I'm sure you've heard of Mr. Eversol," Luthor introduced.

"Yes, it's wonderful to meet you personally sir, and might I say—"

"Excuse me," Eversol interrupted, "but where are the dinosaurs?"

"In route currently," Luthor replied. "Several of the more valuable assets proved to be a challenge to track down. Be rest assured, they'll be here in time for the auction tomorrow evening."

"And then your buyers will have access to these creatures for whatever they want: agricultural, industrial, sport, we'll have something to suit them. We have managed to capture over eleven species, each with their own unique bio-pharmaceutical properties. I'm estimated about four-million per species."

"Eli," Luthor admonished, "you aim far too low. With the limited number of these creatures in existence, let alone in captivity we're talking at least ten-million per animal. Especially among our more desperate buyers. Those who seek living weapons; monsters for their own use. Dinosaurs are a perfect way to handle those needs. They're strong, they're durable, and when they get moving there's almost no stopping them."

"But we're spending too much time on the past are we not?" Mills added. "Allow us to show you the future."

"Ten minutes."

"Now, selling these pathetic creatures is to continue financing our operations here and in LexCorp facilities all around the world. Call it an overture to something much more ambitious," he said leading the pair to the elevator and typing in the code.

"And more lucrative I guess?"

"Of course. I've financed the reactivation of the old facilities beneath our feet, updated all the technology, and have hired the best geneticist in the world in order to make this dream a reality," Luthor continued as they stepped into the elevator. "It has taken years in the making and a few failures along the way. But genetics is an uncharted frontier in warfare with an unfathomable growth potential."

The elevator doors opened and Eversol jumped as he saw a boy with tanned skin, heavy plates, black hair, and a clubbed tail standing in front of him along with another boy with slightly darker skin, brown hair, and a green stegosaurus tail.

"Meet," Luthor introduced, "Hardshell, ankylosaur hybrid bearing extra powers given to him by his mother Devistation and the intellect of his father, Dr. Henry Wu."

"Pleasure."

"And Barbarian, stegosaur hybrid, with the powers of his father Vandal Savage and the psychic abilities of his mother Queen Bee of Bialya."

"Greetings."

"They are just two of our many successes in the Asset X Project," Luthor smiled.

"The Asset X Project?" Eversol questioned curiously.

"If there is one thing I've learned over the course of human history is that man is inevitably drawn to war," Mills said leading the way into the lab where Dr. Wu sat at a desk working, "and is willing to use any means necessary to do it."

"A supersoldier project?"

"More like the next step in human evolution," Luthor corrected.

"And, they are just the start," Eli said pulling up a hologram, "our geneticist has created a direct descendent of the creature that singlehandedly destroyed Jurassic World."

"The Indominus Rex."

"We had our Assets," Mills motioned to the hybrids, "retrieve a DNA sample and from that, we were able to create a completely new creature. Everything about this thing is designed for killing, and, thanks to Owen Grady's research as well as our own experience with our team, it follows human commands. We call it the Indoraptor."

"Fascinating," Eversol admired looking over the hologram of the creature, "but I would like to hear more about this project," he walked up to Barbarian, "I can't imagine the price someone would pay for them."

A hand reached out and wrapped around his throat and the auctioneer struggled as he was lifted off the ground. "We are not for sale. Is that clear?"

Eversol nodded, gasping as he was dropped to the floor. "Now, now, Barbarian, no need to be so crass," Luthor scolded lightly. "He's merely doing his job. Rest assured you're all much too valuable to be put for sale. But, I doubt that decreases your curiosity Eversol?"

The auctioneer shook his head, stumbling away from the two glaring at him. "Then perhaps we should invite our expert to explain," Mills said stepping aside to let Dr. Henry Wu in.

"It is an honor to meet you Dr. Wu," Eversol said eagerly shaking the scientist's hand. "I am fascinated to hear about this Assest X Project you have going."

"Yes, well, many years ago Luthor and his allies came to me with a proposition and funding for me to continue my work. In turn I began to develop genetically modified soldiers for them. Unfortunately, as expected, the complexity of creating a new lifeform was met with…challenges. The first set didn't survive, and those after that were uncontrollable and monstrous. I eventually realized that it wasn't the dinosaur part of my work's genome that was unstable, but it was the human."

"The human?"

"Yes, in order to create a perfect hybrid you have to have a maternal and paternal genetic donor from the mammalian side of the genetic code in order to stabilize it and make the clone viable. Using organisms with predispositions for superpowers we were able to extract these abilities and put them into our hybrids," Wu said pulling up a hologram. "I'm sure you recognize him."

"Prince Onyx of Themiscrya," Eversol breathed as he took in the holographic form.

"He was my first success. A1 retained the more desirable traits of his donors, their strength, their intelligence, and, most importantly, his ability to evolve, to adapt new powers. From there I was able to develop my other Assets," more holograms appeared, "B1—T-Rex hybrid son of Queen Bee and Psimon, heir to the Bialyian throne, and he possesses his parents psychic powers as well as the Rex's immeasurable strength. B3—Ankylosaur hybrid. B2—Stegosaur hybrid. B4—Thangarian-Pteranodon hybrid, daughter of Hawkman and Hawkwoman."

"Excuse me, but why pick superheroes?"

"The Hawks were already genetically predisposed to wings, making it easier to blend the genomes since the trait is already a given for either species."

"Ah."

Wu turned to the next holorgram depicting an aquatic-looking girl, "B5—Atlantean-Mosasaur hybrid, possesses the same powers and immunities as her donors."

"Remarkable."

"And finally, we have A2: our Indominus hybrid, daughter of Vandal Savage, she was designed to be the most dangerous assassin in the world, able to bypass heat scanners, motion sensors, and cameras with little difficulty as well as the inherited powers from her mother and father, A2 remains a dangerous but powerful success."

"I can see why you aren't selling them," Eversol muttered shivering at the thought of the supervillains they were related too. "But I have to say, they…they are remarkable works of art."

"Yes," Luthor agreed, "perfectly designed to handle the most dangerous of situations and enjoy the thrill of the hunt."

-.-

**Pacific Ocean, December 6, 00:23**

"We were starting to worry about you two," Zatanna said as Onyx and M'gann climbed in the truck.

"Sneaking back in was a little trickier than I thought it'd be," Nightmare replied patting Rosy's nose as she pressed her head in the back of the car. **"How you doing Blue? Feeling better?"**

The female snorted, lifting her head tiredly with a slight growl.

**"It'll wear off soon. But I need you to stay quiet. These guys don't know I'm here, and we're going to find out exactly what they're up to."**

Blue narrowed her eyes, it seemed she wasn't particularly fond of being ordered around.

**"I'll let you get revenge on Wheatley if you agree to help."**

**"I'm in."**

"What'd she say?" Remix asked.

"She'll help us out. She wants justice just as much as we do," he answered, leaving out the detail that raptor justice was either committed through a severe mauling or death.

"Makes me wish I had Wolf," Superboy grumbled.

"We've got the prehistoric version right here," Zia muttered looking at the raptor.

"Where's Sphere?" M'gann asked.

"Flying behind us," Nightmare replied. "She's staying out of sight, tracking us. Once we get a signal we can call the League for back-up."

"Here's my question," Claire said, "if these guys aren't taking them to Isla Nycta, where the hell are they taking them?"

"You see the way they're treating these guys now that the League is gone," Owen pointed out. "These guys don't care about animals. They're traffickers. They're not taking them to a sanctuary they're gonna sell them."

"If I kill them, will any of you rat me out?" Nightmare asked.

"No," they all replied.

"I'll help," Owen volunteered.

-.-

**Isla Nycta, 2:43**

"I thought they said this place was abandoned?" Diana said flying next to the others.

"It was supposed to be," Green Lantern replied.

Superman narrowed his eyes, looking at the buildings below. "There's something moving down there, but it's not human. Moving too fast."

"Let's check it out," Captain Marvel said leading the way down.

Landing on the ground all of the Leaguers couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. This place seemed to be like Jurassic World…or at least, it looked like it might've been on its way to becoming that. The houses built in the area didn't seem too old, but they still had plants and vines growing along them, windows were broken in, doors smashed, and long claw marks dug into the wood panels lining them.

"What happened here?" Hawkwoman whispered.

"Everyone pair up and stay sharp, we don't know what could be lurking around here," Superman said as he and Diana began walking into a large building, stepping over the remains of the metal doors. Lights flickered overhead every now and then, illuminating the otherwise dark passage. Something on the ground caught his attention as it crunched under his foot and the Man of Steel crouched down picking it up.

His stomach churned.

In his hand was a human skull. He could see the rest of the bones scattered along the ground, looking like they'd be cut to ribbons in conjunction with the matching slashes on the wall. "Something bad happened here."

"No kidding," Diana agreed.

A screech came from down the hall and both settled into fighting stances as they heard something moving closer. Claws rapped lightly against the floor, and in the flickering lights both heroes froze as they saw the…_thing_ emerge.

It currently crawled on all fours, standing at a whopping seven-feet in height. The creature didn't appear to have eyes, but by the way it was slowly moving towards them it didn't need them. It was a pale white color, and its forearms were the size of Superman with hands big enough to encircle their heads.

The creature unhinged its maw, opening it to impossibly wide angles for a humanoid creature releasing a series of clicks. It went quiet for a moment, tilting its head every now and then before it's head stopped right at them.

It knew they were here.

With an unholy screech, it pounced at them. Punching it back, Clark sent the creature rolling across the ground where it stood to its full height in the dark hallway of a horrifying eleven feet, at least. It screeched loudly and then they heard it.

There was more than one.

-.-

**Lockwood Estate, 17:24PCT**

The ship's horn rang out, making the sleeping group jump awake. "Are we there?" Owen grumbled.

"I think so," Zatanna muttered rubbing her head.

"Where?" Franklin said sitting up.

**"Blue, I need you to climb in here,"** Nightmare said opening a cage.

**"You want me to what?!"**

**"Blue! Please it's only for a little while. We need to sneak inside."**

"I can stay with her in camouflage," Miss Martian volunteered.

**"See, Miss Martian's gonna be with you. When the time comes, she'll let you out then you can wreck all the havoc on these guys as you want."**

Blue's yellow-green eyes narrowed for a moment before she snorted, **"Fine."** Reluctantly climbing in the cage, she settled down, moving to the side as Miss M climbed in beside her, tossing up her hood and turning invisible.

"Esiugsid Yobrepus and em ni s'rekrow smorfinu," Zatanna said as their closes changed into dock workers gear. "We'll drive the truck."

Onyx nodded, "Zia, Franklin, Owen, Claire, I need you all to leave. Get to the nearest town and call the Justice League."

"What?! We're not leaving you!" Zia exclaimed.

"I'm not putting civilians in harm's way! They think you're dead. They won't be looking for you."

"Fine," Owen said climbing out with them.

"Hey!" a dockworker said and Zia and Franklin froze as a flashlight landed on them. "What's going on?"

"We were getting the raptor in her cage," Zia lied moving the curtain as Nightmare and Remix hid allowing the man to see the beast.

"Oh, you deck crew?"

"Uh, aye aye," Franklin nodded.

"We're loading out, you two follow me," he said.

"Does that mean we're leaving the ship?" Franklin asked and the deckhand rolled his eyes.

"That's what loading out means, now follow me newbies!"

_"That puts a wrinkle in our plans,"_ Remix grumbled.

_"What happened?"_

_"Franklin and Zia got themselves hijacked onto the crew. They think they're deckhands,"_ Nightmare explained.

_"Great. What about Owen and Claire?"_

_"They're in the clear. They'll sneak out and meet Sphere while we all leave and call for back-up."_

The engine of the truck started up, and everyone held their breath as they began driving to their unknown destination.

As the cars began to slow down, Remix and Nightmare leapt out, flying up into the dark sky as they watched the truck dock. _"How're y'all doing down there?"_

_"Alright, they're unloading Blue and I now,"_ M'gann replied.

_"Same with the rest of the dinosaurs,"_ Zatanna replied. _"They have an area filled with pens to hold them."_

_"They're taking the elevators down,"_ Superboy said. _"We'll regroup with you down there."_

_"Alright, Nightmare and I will find another way in, we shouldn't be long."_

Flying around the back of the manor, they two hybrids flew to an upper window with a balcony. Grabbing the handles, they carefully pulled the doors open.

_"Thank God people always forget to lock the stuff upstairs,"_ Remix smirked.

_"Cause they never expect an enemy to enter from above,"_ Nightmare agreed as they snuck in closing the door behind them. _"Let's go!"_

_"Or we can just use this,"_ Remix said opening a door and revealing a dumbwaiter shaft.

_"That works too."_

-.-

"Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen to this extraordinary evening. Let's dive right in with Lot Number 1: an ankylosaurus. This is a herbivorous quadruped from the late cretaceous. This is one of the largest armored dinosaurs, known by paleontologists as a living tank."

_"Guys, you need to get here quick,"_ Superboy said as he and Zatanna peered in through a narrow hall outside the bidding zone.

_"What's going on?"_

_"They're selling them. They're selling the dinosaurs."_

-.-

_"What're you doing?"_ Remix exclaimed as Nightmare skid to a stop, running towards a cage holding a Stygimoloch.

Nightmare ripped off the lock and opened the door sprinting away as it burst out. _"Causing a distraction!" _The horned animal ran into a post as it charged, causing the unfortunate herbivore to stumble away. "You're welcome."

"Nightmare."

"Yeah, what…" he trailed off turning to see a young girl staring at them, "oh."

She turned, sprinting off forcing the two teen heroes to race after her. "Wait!" Remix said grabbing her arm.

"No!"

"Please!"

"LET ME GO!" the girl shouted pounding her fists.

"Hey, hey," Nightmare said kneeling beside her. "We're not gonna hurt you. See," he showed her the W symbol on his chest, "my name is Nightmare, I'm Wonder Woman's protégé. This is Remix, she's Hawkman's and Hawkwoman's protégé. We're here to help."

"I—I saw you, on the monitor. Mr. Mills and his colleagues were talking about all of you," she whispered.

"Can you tell us your name?" he asked.

"M-Maisie," she sniffed, "Maisie Lockwood."

"Lockwood," Remix mumbled. "Like Benjamin Lockwood?"

Maisie nodded wiping tears from her eyes, "I'm…I was his granddaughter."

The two hybrids shared a look. "Was?"

The girl began crying, hugging Remix, "He—He's gone."

"It's ok sweetie," Remix whispered rubbing her head. _"What should we do? We can't leave her here."_

_"Obviously, but we don't have time to evacuate her either, not without being spotted,"_ Nightmare reluctantly deduced. _"We'll have to bring her with us."_

Skylar nodded, crouching down and picking her up, _"I'll fly her out of here at the first sign of trouble."_

_"Good."_

-.-

_"Oh thank God, you made it,"_ Zatanna said as their teammates joined them.

_"Who's this?"_ Conner questioned looking at the girl clinging to Remix's back.

_Maisie, she's the heiress to the Lockwood estate. Her grandfather's dead and that man, Mills—who's sitting by Luthor—is running this whole shebang,"_ Remix explained.

"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, now that we're halfway through the evening. We'd like to offer a very special treat to our discriminating buyers. You will get to preview, a new asset that we've been developing. A creature of the future, made from pieces of the past. Ladies and Gentlemen, please be warned, this is the perfect blend of the two most dangerous creatures who have ever walked the Earth. We call it, the Indoraptor."

The doors opened and they all stared as a massive black beast was unveiled. **"Where am I?"** a distinctly male voice called as the animal circled the cage looking at its new surroundings. Two men walked forwards on either side, jamming prods into the cage and Nightmare flinched, pushing back memories of his time in the lab. **"STOP THAT! IT HURTS!"**

"A perfect weapon for the modern age. Built for combat, with tactical responses more acute than any human soldier."

"What the hell is that thing?" Zatanna whispered.

**"STOP!"** the Indoraptor roared again as he was shocked. **"YOU'RE HURTING ME! I'VE BEEN GOOD! STOP!"**

Onyx bit the inside of his cheek, trying to refrain from covering up his ears and blocking out his brethren's screams of pain. Each crackle of the prods made his skin crawl as he remembered the pain. How increasing voltages of electricity would course through his body each time he messed up, each time he misbehaved, each time he _failed_ to be good enough. How no matter how much he desperately begged, that the pain wouldn't stop till he was either perfect or he passed out.

Then…then there were the days they did it just to see how much he could take. Strapping him to a table and electrocuting him for hours and hours, just continuing to increase the voltage as the scientists ignored his pleas, just standing by and taking notes.

"They made it," Maisie said pulling the hybrid out of his thoughts.

"They?" Superboy questioned.

"Mr. Mills, Mr. Luthor, and the other man," she said pointing.

"What man?"

She brought her hand up to the grate pointing down at a man sitting in a chair. "Him."

"Designed, by Mr. Henry Wu," the auctioneer said and Onyx and Skylar froze. "It's intelligence comes close to that of the Velociraptor. It's biospecs include heightened sense of smell and trained to respond to a pulse-coded laser targeting system. Enabling it to isolate and track prey in complex environments." He gave a motion and a man on the side raised a gun, focusing the laser on one of the members of the audience. "First, the laser sets the target. Once locked on the acoustic signal triggers the attack." A shrill sound filled the air, forcing Nightmare and Superboy to cover their ears in pain as the Indoraptor roared, trying to claw through the cage to reach its prey. "This animal is relentless. Now, modifications are still being made—"

"TWENTY MILLION!"

"No, this is a prototype, not for sale—"

"TWENTY-ONE!"

"TWENTY-TWO!"

"TWENTY-THREE!"

"TWENTY-FOUR!"

The auctioneer looked at Mills and looked back out at the crowd. "Twenty-four million dollars."

"TWENTY-FIVE MILLION!"

"Do I hear twenty-six?"

"We can't let them get him," Nightmare said clenching his fists.

A thud came from down the hall and they all turned to see the animal Nightmare had freed earlier walking towards them curiously. Remix smirked, "I think I have an idea."


	31. Blood is Thicker than Water

Chapter 30

**A/N: hey guys, I'm back for another chapter! Remember, I just own my OCs and the story, nothing else is mine sadly.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Lockwood Estate, December 6, 20:44PCT**

"Once, twice, sold! To the Russian man!" Everson said slamming down the gavel ending the bidding war on the monster.

The elevator pinged and everyone turned in confusion only to freeze as they saw the Stygimoloch standing inside it. People screamed as it ran forwards, heatbutting a guard across the room.

Using the distraction to their advantage, Superboy and Nightmare climbed down from the elevator roof. A man began to raise his gun towards the crowd and Onyx grabbed is lasso, throwing it and yanking the barrel up into the air as he began firing. Pulling on the rope again, the weapon flew out of his hands and Nightmare caught it, quickly swinging and using the other end like a club to knockout another guard charging towards him with a prod.

"GET THIS THING OUTTA HERE!"

Conner and Onyx looked at each other, then back at the raptor. With a nod, Superboy leapt across the room, crashing down on the guard controlling the lever. Reversing it, the cage began to move back into its original position as Conner broke the lever's handle off, making sure they couldn't move it again.

**"YOU HUNT! I WANT TO HUNT! LET ME OUT SO I MAY KILL!" **the Indoraptor screeched reaching its arms out through the bars, trying to grab something for it to kill.

**"Little busy right now!"** Nightmare replied using his stolen battle staff of swipe the feet out from another guard before he picked the man up and hurled in into his buddies. "Superboy! Go after Luthor and Mills! Dr. Wu is mine!"

**"COME BACK!" **the raptor called watching the one who spoke as he did. Biting at the cage, he tried to get through the infernal bars blocking him. He wanted out. He wanted to meet this one who spoke in kin. He wanted to hunt with them. They were strong, they would make good pack, they could help him kill his tormenters.

"Wow, look at you," a new voice spoke and the Indoraptor turned watching a man approach, "didn't see you on the island."

**"Yes, come closer. Let me out so I may fight with kin,"** he trilled. The man pulled out a gun and the Indoraptor felt rage. It was another one! Another pain maker! Two jolts of pain came through his neck and he screamed. Why? Why would the pain never stop? **"I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!"**

"Oh, you're a tough guy aren't you?" the man said raising his gun again.

He understood, the man wasn't wanting to kill him, just knock him out. Stumbling into the side of his cage, the Indoraptor pretended to feel faint, shortly after collapsing to the ground. If pain-maker believed he was unconscious, then his guard would be down. Then, he could kill pain-maker, and go find kin-speaker.

As expected, the cage door creaked open for the first time in his life. The foolish man stepped in walking towards him still holding his gun at the ready. "Look at you," he said nudging his head with his shoe, "you're some kind of hotrod, with plenty of teeth." Something clicked open and the raptor restrained himself from opening his eye, to see what it was. He just needed one more minute. "This'll make a nice centerpiece to my necklace."

Something hard began prying at one of his teeth and the Indoraptor raised his tail, dropping it as the man turned to see what had moved.

Almost there.

The prying at his tooth began again, and he raised his tail. Once again, the man turned, but this time, he didn't lower the limb. That was when the raptor struck.

The man screamed as powerful jaws locked around his arm and the beast stood to his full height. Clamping down, there was a satisfying crunch as the body dropped, leaving the limb in his maw. Swallowing the tasty morsel he looked back down at the crying human before him. Grinning to himself, the Indoraptor began digging into his treat. This prey would make a good snack before he went searching for his kin.

-.-

"STOP!"

Remix and Zatanna pulled Maisie behind them as Eli Mills approached with two guards.

"Maisie, come!"

"She's not going anywhere with you," Remix snarled reaching for the Morningstar on her hip.

"And what are you sidekicks going to do? Huh?"

"We're going to stop this and stop you!" Zatanna said.

Mills scoffed. "What're you gonna do? Go back in time and stop Hammond before he decided to play God? You can't put it back in the box!"

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean we can't try."

"Maisie, come!" he demanded again and the girl hid behind Zatanna, clutching her jacket tightly. "Oh, so you're what, going to take care of her now? You don't even know w_hat_ she is. What do you think drove Hammond and Lockwood apart? Lockwood never had a grandchild, he just wanted his daughter back, and he had the technology to do it."

"So she's a clone, so what?" Remix bristled. "She's not the only one here. I can think of three others in this building. I mean, you are looking at the clone daughter of Hawkman and Hawkwoman," she grabbed her mace with a smirk, "so imagine how much this is going to hurt."

-.-

"You get this to Luthor or Mills, be careful it's extremely valuable," Wu ordered. "You, get me a blood sample of the raptor."

"Uh…" Franklin said looking around and Wu rolled his eyes.

"Don't just stand there get me 50cc's carfentonol and a phlebotomy kit!"

"I got it," Zia said grabbing Franklin's arm as she went to get the supplies.

"I'm going to get your blood, with or without your cooperation," Wu said glaring at the raptor.

"Likely without," Miss Martian spoke, blasting the door off the cage sending the mad scientist crashing into the wall and cracking one of the gas containers and breaking some wiring.

"Don't move!" guards said approaching the Martian and Blue with electrical prods. One split off, grabbing Wu and they ran out of there.

Franklin and Zia jumped on their backs, jamming needles into their necks and injecting whatever was in them into their bloodstreams. "Let's go!"

They raced out of the lab as the gas caught fire, blasting them all off their feet onto the platform. None of them realized one of the toxic chambers had been punctured.

-.-

"WU!"

The guards shouted as a lasso wrapped around them, tossing them into the side of the building and Dr. Henry Wu backed up gazing up at Nightmare as he floated down to the ground. "A1…"

"Nightmare," he corrected landing in front of the doctor, "my name is Nightmare! Not A1! I'm done being your lab rat," a clawed hand grabbed his arm and the doctor grunted and struggled as a strong hold wrapped around his arm, "and you, are going to prison."

"Please, my allies won't let you keep me there for long."

"Not if you're in Belle Reve," Onyx replied and the scientist froze.

"What? That—That place is for supervillains! I—"

"YOU TORTURED ME!" he screamed throwing Wu across the clearing. "You claim to be better than them, but you tortured _me_! You probably tortured the others too! For what?! The name of science? To see what we were capable of? We were _kids_!"

"I had to see what you're capable off, not just for science, but for your own safety. You're not human! You never were," Wu replied standing up brushing his jacket. "I designed you to be a lot like your mother, Wonder Woman. She was a warrior, and you were made to be a weapon. But I made sure to leave plenty desirable traits from your father in your genome too; he's quite the powerful being. He insisted I make you as powerful as possible."

"My…my father…" Onyx trailed off feeling confused. But at the same time. It all made sense. He wasn't human, he wasn't even part human. "W-What am I?"

Wu shook his head, looking at his oldest creation with what could only be pity. "I can't answer that for you, but I know who can. Isla Nycta, December 14th, go to the old docks. Someone will be waiting for you. He'll have the answers you're looking for."

Screams and breaking glass came from inside the manor, making Nightmare turn in alarm before looking back to Wu. Despite his need for answers, his team needed him first. Turning away, Nightmare flew inside trying to find his missing friends.

Sighing in relief that he escaped Nightmare's wrath, Wu turned and yelped as a hand slapped over his mouth. "Hello Doctor, I believe we have an appointment," Cheshire greeted.

-.-

"What's going on?!" Superboy called as he and Miss M regrouped with Zia and Franklin in the lab's control room.

"The ventilation system's down and hydrogen cyanide is currently leaking into the cages," Franklin replied as he quickly typed, "and I'm trying to get the system to reboot but it's currently unresponsive."

"Keep trying, we'll start trying to get them out!" Conner said as he and his girlfriend raced out into the danger.

-.-

**"COME OUT!" **a bark called through the building as Nightmare crawled in through a window. **"STOP HIDING!"**

Flying down the hall, Nightmare settled into a crouch and crept forwards, peering into the main lobby cautiously. From the balcony above, he could see the dark form of the Indoraptor moving through the displays, trying to track down whoever he was currently hunting.

Switching to infrared, his gaze landed on three familiar figures hiding in one of the displays. At least now he knew who it was hunting.

And, of course, as luck would have it, the lights began to turn back on.

**"HEY!" **Nightmare called and a massive black head swiveled to look at him.

The massive hybrid animal trilled, bouncing on its claws, **"Kin-speaker! Join me in hunt! Humans must pay, must die for pain! Let's rip them apart!"**

**"No, they don't need to,"** Nightmare said holding out his hands cautiously.

Amber eyes narrowed in anger, **"Then you are prey too! You are soft on weaklings!"**

The raptor leapt at him, and Nightmare flew off the balcony and into the air, **"I was like you ok, they hurt me too. You already got your revenge, don't take it out on those who haven't done anything to you!"**

**"NO! HUMANS CAUSE PAIN! HUMANS HURT FOR SPORT AND AMUSEMENT! HUMANS ARE VILE AND MUST DIE!"** he jumped off after him, crashing to the floor and knocking the triceratops head over, nearly impaling himself on the damn thing. Getting up, the Indoraptor glared up at his traitorous kin, circling the flying one with a slight limp. **"YOU FIGHT LIKE WEAKLING!"**

The raptor had not been prepared for something to tackle him from the side. Yelping, he rolled over, glaring in anger. Another of his kin, betraying him for humans. Why? Why could he not have his own pack? Why did everyone hurt him? Leave him for those weaker than them, crueler than them?

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Nightmare screamed to Zatanna and Remix.

Zatanna picked the small girl up, racing out of the room as Remix pulled out her mace, landing behind the limping monster. "Z, can watch her and meet up with the others. I'm not leaving you alone with this thing."

_"He_," Nightmare corrected, "just needs to see reason."

**"Stop this foolishness," **Blue chittered as she and Nightmare began circling the dark-one.

**"Never! Humans must pay! Humans must suffer as I have!"**

**"We've suffered at their hands too,"** Nightmare said motioning between himself, Blue, and Remix.

Amber eyes narrowed, **"Then why do you defend them?"**

**"Because I refuse to stoop to the level of those who hurt me. It makes me no better than they are," **he replied. **"Tell me, how are you better than them? How are you better than the monster they made you to be?"**

The black creature opened his wide maw to roar a response when he stopped. How was he better than them? They hurt people for fun, he found it fun hurting those who hurt him. They wanted a monster, so that's what he became.

**"You don't have to be that,"** Nightmare continued. **"You can be free. You can join us, we can be your pack. Isn't that all you want?"**

The Indoraptor settled down onto all fours. Is that what he wanted? He knew he wanted the pain to stop, he wanted to leave this terrible place, find somewhere he belonged. But he certainly didn't look like the pretty blue stripped female circling him, nor did he resemble the kin-speaker. Yet…yet they all spoke the same. It would be a weird pack, but it could be a pack.

**"All you have to do, is just stop trying to kill everyone,"** Nightmare said getting closer and holding out a hand. **"Trust me when I say, you'll fit right in to our weird little family. Do you want to?"**

**"…Why should I believe you?"**

**"Because, I'm the best option you've got right now buddy."**

The Indoraptor would take it, it wasn't like any of the alternatives would be better. He could kill them if he found he didn't like them later. But at least he knew this new pack was at least honest. That was a perk.

Now, did they know how to hunt?

-.-

It was official, he had a stupid pack.

The Indoraptor barked at his strange brethren as he followed them with the female as they ran through the halls, towards a place that _reeked _of death. **"WHY ARE WE GOING THIS WAY?!"**

**"I AGREE!" **the female called.

**"WE HAVE TO FIND THE OTHERS AND SAVE THEM!" **Nightmare replied.

"ENGLISH!" Remix shouted.

"OH THANK GOD YOU'RE ALIVE!" Franklin exclaimed as they burst into the lab before his happiness changed to a shrill scream, "AND WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

"Franklin, meet Blue and Indie," Nightmare introduced. **"Indie, Blue, meet Franklin."**

The Indoraptor's brow's furrowed slightly as he took in the shrill one designated as "Franklin" he was definitely a lure. He had to be with how loud he was. Amber eyes trailed between all of those present. Which was Blue? His gaze settled on the blue stripes of the other raptor. Of course, Blue, as in blue stripes. And Indie…who was, the male cocked his head. Well, kin-speaker was introducing Blue to Franklin, so that meant he was being introduced too…was he Indie?

**"Am I Indie?"**

Gold eyes met his and kin-speaker gave a trill, his tail wagging, **"Yep! I picked that as your name! do you like it?"**

**"Name?"**

**"It's what you call yourself, like mine is Nightmare, that's Blue, he's Franklin, and you're Indie."**

Indie…he was Indie. He liked it.

"What should we do?" Superboy said as he and Miss M rejoined them in the control room, having opened all the cage doors.

"We can't leave them in here to die…right?" M'gann asked.

"If we press that button there's no going back," Zia said biting her lip.

Maisie made the decision for them by slamming her hand down on the blinking red button. "I had to," she whispered. "They're alive, like me."

"Like us," Remix said, "you're not the only clone here."

-.-

**December 7, 00:13**

"All the escaped dinosaurs are being hunted down and transported back to either Isla Sorna or Isla Nycta," Batman informed as the group of teenagers sat on the steps of the Lockwood Estate.

"So, is this the part where you scold us for not calling you and bringing civilians into harm's way?" Skylar questioned.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "Normally yes, but in light of the circumstances, I'm sure you all made due with what you could."

"What about the traffickers?" Superboy questioned.

"A majority are being detained at the dock, some escaped and are being located, others were killed by the dinosaurs, and the bidders from the auction all appear to be missing. We're currently trying to locate them and the stolen animals."

"Good," Nightmare relaxed rubbing Indie's head as Blue rested her head in his lap.

"What is that?"

"Another hybrid creature Dr. Wu saw fit to make," Miss Martian replied.

"We'll have to—"

"I'm keeping them," Nightmare said meeting the gaze of the Dark Knight, refusing to back down. "They need a pack, and as strange as this group already is given the fact we have, two aliens, a wolf, two dinosaur hybrids, a ninja, an archer, an Atlantean, and a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers, I don't think having two more raptors will be much of an issue."

"Can you train them?"

"First off, they don't need to be trained. They know how to hunt, I just need to teach them the difference between friend and foe."

"What about Maisie?" Zatanna questioned. "What's gonna happen to her?"

"Her caregiver has been reinstated and she is being put into the custody of Claire Dearing and Owen Grady, given their knowledge of the situation we find that they'll be the most capable in raising her."

The group collectively sighed.

-.-

**Watchtower, December 14, 16:32EST**

"What the hell is this thing?" Canary said looking at the mutilated creature lying dead on the observation table.

"Alien?" Flashed guessed.

"A raptor hybrid," Tornado replied.

"No, seriously, what is it?"

"Tornado isn't lying," Batman confirmed. "This is a hybrid, likely one of Nightmare's predecessors. I've managed to decipher files retrieved from the labs. Apollo Engineering was initially responsible for the Asset X Project that created both Nightmare and Remix. Unfortunately, it had complications early on. Several strains of genetic disorders were developed and released on the island, leading those in possession to develop new powers."

"Whoa, wait, what do you mean powers?" Green Lantern asked.

Batman pulled up an image of a large beast, it looked like a T-Rex, but like it had been mixed with an ankylosaur. It had thick armored plates and there almost appeared to be a divide in the lower jaw. "The Hyperendrocrin Strain: results in extreme growth and thickening of skin to point of invulnerability, gives them thermal vision, heightened senses and accelerated healing."

"Remix and Nightmare both have those traits," Hawkman spoke up.

"Yes, I've compared the base genome. They each carry small parts of the strain. Remix got exposed to the invulnerability, Nightmare inherited the thermal vision, and both got the accelerated healing," Batman answered.

"I would bet the other hybrids were exposed to it as well, based on that," Fate remarked.

"Most likely," Batman agreed. "There's also the Tissoplastic Strain: categorized by invisibility, superspeed, density-shifting, and the ability to produce venom. This was likely the strain used in the creation of the Indominus Rex, and can thus give us a baseline understanding of the hybrid girl's powers. And finally, there's the Neurotinic Strain: classified by telekinesis and telepathy. It is likely to assume that the psychic hybrids were exposed to the strain in order to develop these powers."

"Great, we can log that with the rest of the lab's data," Flash said, "but that still doesn't answer the question: What the hell is this?!" he pointed to the massive beast lying on the table, "I mean, we've all seen a hybrid, and this...doesn't look like any of them."

"It's an unstable version," Tornado replied pulling up a monitor holding three sets of DNA. "This one on the far left is the creature, the other two are Remix and Nightmare. As you can see, this hybrid is a perfect, 50/50 blend of human and raptor with both sets of chromosomes. Nightmare and Remix, they have the DNA spliced into their genomes."

"Making their genome more stable," Dinah realized.

"Our best move is to quarantine the island, the strains may not be infectious to humans, but given the fact these things attacked us unprovoked, we need to keep them as far away from people as possible."

"Agreed, but what concerns me are the other hybrids," Batman spoke. "While on Isla Nycta, we managed to obtain Dr. Wu's files on them." He pulled the old files, onto the screen and they all looked at it. "Including possible powers and the various strains they were exposed to. However, due to their age, there's a chance the data could be inaccurate."

"It's better than nothing," Superman shrugged. "Let's get started."

-.-

**Isla Nycta**

Nightmare landed on the roof of one of the rundown buildings in the docks. Looking around, he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. Something about this place…felt _wrong_. Maybe it was the fact that the buildings were still obviously incomplete, maybe it was just being to an island he didn't really know, but he didn't like it.

"What am I doing?" he whispered running a hand through his hair. "This could be a trap. Wu was probably just trying to save his own skin."

"I assure you, he wasn't."

Whirling around into a crouch, Nightmare bared his fangs as he saw Vandal Savage waiting for him. "What do you want?" he snarled grabbing his lasso.

"Relax Nightmare, I'm not here to pick a fight," Savage said putting his arms behind his back casually. "I'm here to give you the answers you seek. The answers about your father." Savage smirked as he saw the boy freeze, obviously debating on going through with this.

It wouldn't matter, the boy was more like his father than what he believed, his curiosity would win out.

Nightmare jumped down landing in front of Savage, "What do you know about my father?"

"He and I are old friends," Savage answered, "we've known each other for a _long _time."

Gold eyes flashed scarlet red and Savage saw a warning of lightning sparking over his arms. "I'll listen," he growled lashing his tail, "but that doesn't mean I'll buy what you're selling."

The immortal chuckled, "I see you have his temper. He never appreciated speaking around the subject either. But no matter, I should start at the beginning. Your father's name, is Darkseid."


	32. Holiday Hijinks

Chapter 31

**A/N: hey guys, I'm back for another chapter about our favorite hybrids! Remember, I just own them, nothing else is mine.**

**/comms/ **

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**Mt. Justice, December 23, 10:45**

"You nervous?" Diana asked as she sat down next to Onyx.

"Yeah," he nodded resting his elbows on his knees as they waited in the medbay.

"I know you're scared ok, but J'ohn isn't going to hurt you. He just wants to make sure that all of Psimon's damage is gone," she reassured.

"I know," he said, looking down as his tail began tapping the berth. "I…I just don't like people in my head."

Wonder Woman could understand that, it had taken her some time to come around to the idea of telepaths. Unfortunately, she couldn't truly relate, because while she had been mind-controlled in the past, Onyx had been essentially manipulated with it his whole life in one way or another.

Pursing her lips, she began to think of ways to calm him down so it'd be easier on him when J'ohn began. Nightmare was bound to start fighting back out of instinct once Manhunter began prodding around in his head. And while she knew J'ohn wouldn't intentionally hurt Onyx, there was a chance that he could get hurt.

Talking to him to keep him grounded might work, but she wasn't sure for how long. Nor did she know if J'ohn checking a particular area could trigger something. Physical contact, no, might remind him of restraints, and with the warning Dinah gave her…she didn't want to risk bringing up trauma.

Her gaze drifted to the cupboards where she knew there were a few light sedatives. Bruce or Dinah more than likely wouldn't approve—actually, they'd probably strangle her—but those just might relax him enough…

"Onyx?"

"Hmm?"

"I have an idea that might help you relax, however, I want to know if _you_ want to do it," she began calmly, "The basic idea is I'd give you a light sedative, it should keep you calm while J'ohn works. This way the process is completely painless." Her son glanced at the cabinets, looking slightly unsure. "Remember, you don't have to do it and we can just figure it out as we go if that's the case. I thought I'd just give you the option."

"…You—you really think it'll help?"

"I believe it will," she answered honestly, "but there's also a chance I could be wrong."

After a few moments, he nodded, "I guess we can."

"You're sure?"

Nightmare nodded again, this time a little more forcefully. "I trust you, and even if it does make it worse, I at least know you weren't trying to make it that way."

Gods, what did she do to earn such a trusting child? "Alright," she said getting up. Walking to the cabinet, she grabbed a small medicine cup and a bottle of light sedatives. Pouring the contents in, she strode over looking at the boy with a concerned look. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah," he smiled slightly, reaching out and taking the cup. Diana would admit she was mildly concerned in how he took it almost like one would take a shot, and she made a note to remind her sisters that underage drinking wasn't allowed. She set the cup down in the sink, going back over to sit with Onyx. Grabbing the remote, she began flipping through the channels before settling on a Christmas movie. It would at least keep him distracted till Manhunter got there.

They got about half-way through _The Grinch_ when Diana felt something—or rather, someone, slowly lean against her. Glancing to her right, a small smile tugged her lips as she saw her son resting his head on her shoulder with half-lidded eyes, his pupils blown wide as he gaze at the screen. Carefully shifting, she wrapped her arm around him and gently lifted him off. Nightmare gave an adorable mewl in protest to being moved away from his current pillow, but soon settled down when she moved to let his head rest in a real pillow she set on her lap.

Wonder Woman proceeded to rub his head as they continued to watch the movie. While she was certainly wondering what the hell was taking J'ohn so long, she was more than content to stay there for a movie night…maybe they could do that tonight? Or Christmas eve? It would be a nice way for both of them to relax.

A soft rap came from the door, and Diana paused the movie as Batman walked in, a frown on his face. "Has Manhunter not arrived yet?"

"No, there was probably an emergency," she replied with a shrug. "We've just been hanging out till he gets here."

"How long have you been waiting?" Bruce questioned, motioning to the boy.

Diana glanced down, softly brushing some of Onyx's hair out of his face as he slept peacefully. "Long enough to watch the Grinch."

"I apologize for the delay," Manhunter spoke, entering the room. "There was a bank robbery."

"It's fine, Onyx fell asleep," she said. "Now, something tells me, it's not just residual damage you're looking for?"

"No," Manhunter confirmed. "When I was repairing Nightmare's memories, I believed I detected a subconscious anomaly. Believing it to be damage, I determined it would be best for it to heal with the rest of the minor fragments. I wish to check to see if I was correct in my assumptions."

"Or determine if it was something else," Batman spoke up.

"Indeed."

"Do I need to move?" Diana questioned.

"No, I can do what I need," J'ohn said before his eyes started glowing.

Diana looked down watching nervously as she waited for a result. Every now and then Onyx would give a twitch or grimace as if in discomfort. Fortunately, it never lasted long before he relaxed again. Glancing up at Manhunter. He had a slight frown on his face, making her crease her brows. Was something wrong?

"J'ohn?" Bruce spoke up, apparently picking up on the same signal.

"That anomaly…it's not damage from Psimon."

Diana immediately felt concerned, biting her lip as she looked over her sleeping son. If it wasn't healing damage then what in the name of the gods could it possibly be? "What is it?"

"I'm not sure," J'ohn frowned, closing his eyes focusing more of his power on it. "It's deeply rooted in his subconscious."

"Repressed memories?" Batman questioned crossing his arms.

"It would appear so," he said removing his hands from his head with a frown. "Would you like me to remove the repression?"

"We need to see what's behind those memories," Batman spoke before Diana could speak up.

Almost instantly, a bloodcurdling scream ripped its way out of Onyx's throat.

-.-

**Themiscyran Embassy, 16:55**

Diana walked into the living room and smiling when she saw Onyx sleeping on the couch with Blue and Indie curled up beside him, a Christmas movie playing on the TV. If anyone had told her she would have a fourteen-year-old son and two raptors for pets before going to Sorna, Diana would've just rolled her eyes and scoffed saying she'd probably never have children of her own.

Gods, it was hard to believe it was just a few months ago she brought her young son into her life. She couldn't imagine life without that excitable ball of energy.

"Is that the tree Onyx was so excited about?" Donna asked taking a bite of an apple.

"Yes, I wanted to get it so we could decorate it when he woke up."

Her younger sister gave a sympathetic look, "You just missed him by a few minutes. He drifted off again not too long ago."

"How's his headache?"

"Almost gone now, but he's still a little outta it," she answered. "What exactly happened at the cave? I thought it was just a check-up?"

"It was, Manhunter found a lot of repressed memories. He didn't exactly react well," Diana grimaced thinking back to when Onyx began screaming in absolute agony once Manhunter had started to try to go through them. Bruce had even given him the strongest sedative they had; but even that didn't stop the pain, nothing did till they finally ceded and stopped trying to breach them. And even then, J'ohn couldn't decipher whatever the memory fragments were; only that they were filled with pain.

That information saddened her. Onyx had already suffered enough at the hands of those monsters and now they learned that the torture was bad enough to where the kid _repressed_ his own memories to avoid the pain.

"That explains why he's so tired," Donna sighed taking a sip of wine.

A low rumble came from the couch and both sisters turned to see Indie watching them with curiosity. Diana would admit, the hybrid beast was unnerving at times with the intelligence that flashed through his eyes; it almost made her wonder at times if perhaps he had a little human in him too. "How're you doing Indie?"

He gave a soft croon, wriggling a bit on the couch and nudging Onyx with his nose.

Donna chuckled, "He's just taking a nap. He'll be fine."

Wonder Woman swore to Zeus she saw the indoraptor raise an eyebrow. "You want up?"

The great, black and gold creature nodded and Diana walked over, slowly lifting Onyx's sleeping form off the raptor allowing him to slide off the couch. Putting her son back down under a blanket, she turned to look at their two newest family members. "Happy?"

In response, Blue trilled, running off, Indie on her tail as they began to play.

"Whoa," Artemis balked as the two pets raced past, nearly barreling the redhead over. "Gotta say, it's never boring 'round here."

"How way duty?"

"Boring, I almost got to scare off a few nosy reporters, but Blue beat me too it. She stole one of their cameras too," she chuckled putting her helmet down.

"On the bright side we know nobody's breaking in!" Iris called from another room.

A clatter got their attention and the three Amazons turned just in time to get a flurry of feathers in their faces. As the white cloud settled, they both gave a deadpan look at Indie and Blue, who each had pillows in their mouths and were covered in feathers. Blue looked just as confused as they did, dropping her broken pillow.

Indie, on the other hand, immediately started running around the house, leaving a trail of feathers in his wake. They heard several of their sisters' shout from the other room as another plume of feathers emerged and the culprit sprinted out with what one could almost say a gleeful cackle.

"Wanna start decorating the tree and say that was our excuse for not wrangling him?" Donna suggested.

"You spend too much time with your nephew," Diana sighed.

"Like mother like son, my dear big sister."

"So…I'm not hearing a no here?" Artemis shrugged.

-.-

**18:13**

"So what is the plan for one of these 'movie nights'?"

"We sit around, eat junk food, and binge watch movies till dawn or till we all fall asleep."

"It's pretty fun," Iris agreed.

Slowly opening his eyes, Onyx blinked a few times to get everything into focus. He found his brows furrowing as he saw several of his sisters lying out blankets and pillows on the floor, some of the others were bringing in food with Indie and Blue following behind trying to sneak a bite.

What was going on? Was he still dreaming?

"Look who's finally awake."

Turning his head up towards the ceiling, he smiled tiredly as his mother leaned over the couch. "Hi Mom."

"How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good, but my head still hurts," he confessed with a slight wince. He gaze flickered to the green mass across the room and he smiled, "I see y'all decorated the tree."

"You like it, nephew?"

"It's great, I can't wait for when we put the lights on."

A hand rubbed his head and Onyx purred lightly, letting his eyes slowly start to drift shut again. "Hey, don't go falling asleep on me just yet now. You need to eat something and at least watch one movie with your family, then you're more than welcome to go back to sleep."

"Can I pick the movie?"

Diana smiled and nodded, her chest feeling warm as a gleam of happiness shone in his tired eyes. "First pick."

"Nightmare Before Christmas?"

"I suppose we could watch that," she said grabbing the remote. "Scooch over." As soon as she sat down Onyx happily leaned against her as the rest of their sisters settled down on different chairs or on the blanket-covered floor passing around popcorn and other snacks, ready to enjoy a movie marathon as a family.

-.-

**December 24, 16:45EST**

"Alright everyone, we all get to open one present tonight," Canary said as the mentors and team sat around the living room.

Wally began to get up to grab a large box, when his uncle stopped him. "Nope. We get to choose what presents we give you."

"Aw man." The was a series of huffs and the redhead glared at the Indoraptor lying beside Wolf and Blue on the floor. "You still owe me a turkey leg, jerk."

The corner of Indie's mouth tilted up, he liked this loud one. He was fun to annoy, and he had food. **"Never gonna happen."**

Onyx snorted and the others looked at him. "What'd he say?"

"He said: Never gonna happen," Onyx relayed and the others snickered as Wally continued to glare at Indie.

"Baywatch, consider it payment for him not trying to eat you," Artemis commented.

"Just because he looks mean doesn't mean he is," Conner defended scratching Wolf's ears.

"Yeah, Blue's killed more people than Indie has," Onyx remarked taking a bite of a cookie.

"That's not reassuring."

"Why the hell do you have two homicidal pets?" Roy scowled scooching away from the two animals.

"First off, they're not pets, they're part of my pack. And two, they attacked only when provoked."

"He has a point," Robin agreed crossing his legs on the couch. "Now, the presents?!"

"Ok, ok, Robin, since you're so eager," Canary chuckled picking up a box of some sort and setting it in front of him.

"Why does it have holes?

"Perhaps it has to do with what's inside the box," Batman spoke from where he loomed behind the couch.

The boy wonder tilted his head back, looking up at his mentor. Sticking his tongue out at the Bat, he opened the box, a smile coming to his face as he pulled out a small black kitten with wide eyes. "Yes! You finally talked him into letting me get a pet!"

"He's so cute," Zatanna cooed lightly bopping the tiny kitten on the nose. "What're you naming him?"

Robin's mouth tilted up. "How about Batty?"

"No."

"Batty it is!" Robin decided, setting the tiny animal in his lap. The small kitten yawned, curling up in his lap.

"Oh! Oh! Now me! Now me!" Wally said jumping up and down in his seat.

"M'gann," Manhunter said levitating a small covered crate over.

"Am I getting a cat?" she asked quickly removing the cover. Her smile turned to a confused frown as he stared at the lizard inside. "This isn't a cat."

"It's a chameleon," her uncle smiled, gently opening the box. Changing the color of his hand, her eyes widened as the small animal changed to match. "I didn't think you would enjoy a plant like I do, but I thought you might enjoy a little animal that is not too different from us."

"That's so cool!" M'gann said letting the small animal crawl onto her hand.

"Yes. I have also seen many funny videos with these little animals. They enjoy grabbing things."

"I'll name her Rainbow. Cause she's so colorful."

"Are we all getting pets?" Wally questioned.

"Artemis, Roy, I figured you'd both enjoy these," Green Arrow smiled setting to boxes down and both dug in, wanting to see their possible new pets.

"Aw!" the blonde archer cooed. As a small terrier puppy hopped out of the box, tail wagging. "I love him. What's his name?"

"Adoption center said Buddy, but you can change it if you want."

Artemis thought for a moment, playing with the puppy in her lap. "I like Buddy."

"A snake?" Roy asked looking at his ex-mentor with a raised brow. "You gave me a snake?"

"It's not like he's a boa, just a little corn snake," Oliver defended. "See he likes you." Roy looked down, watching the small red and orange snake slithering into his lap, it's tongue flicking out every now and then as it took in its environment.

"Fine, I'll name him…Hector? Happy?"

"He likes eating mice and rats."

"Well, at least he's useful."

"Come on!" Wally whined, falling back on the couch. "Where's my pet? What is it? I wanna know."

"Zatanna," Canary said, reaching into a box, and the girl smiled as a black and white rabbit was pulled out. "I remember Zatara saying you wanted one."

The girl sniffled, taking the small bunny. "Yeah, he said maybe when I was older. He's cute. He looks like an Oreo."

"Oreo, that's a cute name," Dinah smiled sitting beside the young girl as she began to tear up.

"Yeah, he does look like cookies and crème," Robin remarked as his kitten crawled over his lap to sniff at the bunny.

"Looks like Batty likes him too."

"I highly doubt I'm getting another pet," Conner remarked, holding Wolf back as he tried to sniff at Artemis' puppy.

"No, but we did think you and Wolf would enjoy this," Red Tornado said handing Conner a box. Opening it, Conner pulled out a rope, much like the one he'd seen at Onyx's place for the raptors. "This way you can play with him without breaking anything."

"What do ya say Wolf? Wanna try it?" Conner asked holding up the rope. The white canine looked at him for a moment then went back to sniffing the puppy. "Ok. Maybe later."

"Sky, we got you this," Hawkman smiled and held out a brightly colored parrot.

"Peekaboo," the bird squawked.

"I can teach it to curse!" she said.

"Sky," both her parents groaned.

"You're name's Potato."

The colorful green and yellow bird whistled, "Hello Potato! Pretty bird! Pretty bird!"

"Why can't you be normal?" Hawkwoman sighed.

The girl's teal wings twitched, "Where's the fun in that mother?"

"Kaldur'ahm," Aquaman spoke up. "Since you have to split your time between the land and the sea. I thought you would enjoy having some of the sea with you."

Aqualad took the box and opened in. With a deadpan look, he pulled out the sealed magic bowl with a pufferfish inside.

"Mera thought Bubbles would be a good name."

"Thank you, My King."

"SERIOUSLY! WHERE'S MY PET?!" Wally exclaimed.

"Alright, Wally, slow down," Flash sighed picking up a box and handing it to his nephew.

"YES! I GOT…" he trailed off, looking at the animal in the box and glaring up at his uncle. "You're kidding?"

"Nope. Meet your new pet," Barry grinned picking up the baby tortoise. "His name is Tank."

-.-

**Gotham, December 25, 15:32EST**

"You made it!" Dick exclaimed hugging Onyx before Alfred could even open the door all the way.

Stepping inside, Onyx merely looked around, "This is your house?"

"Dude, you're royalty," the boy smirked, "the Themiscyrian palace is probably bigger than this."

He opened his mouth to respond, before finding that he didn't really have anything to say. It wasn't like Robin was wrong.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Princess Diana and Prince Onyx," Alfred greeted, closing the door.

"Just Onyx is fine," he tried hearing an amused snort from his mother.

"Then it's good to see you Prince Just Onyx," he replied, his mustache twitching in amusement as yet another of the Master's guests remained unsure on how to handle him. "Master Bruce and Master Clark are in the living room."

"Thanks Alfred," Diana smiled walking down the hall with the butler, leaving the two teenagers alone.

"So have you opened presents yet?" Dick questioned.

"At home, yeah," he smiled. "You?"

"I had to push Bruce out of bed this morning cause he was talking too long. What'd you get? I got supplies to take care of Batty, a new PlayStation (I may have accidently broken the old one with an EMP), some clothes, a few books, and some new headphones."

"Clothes, a laptop, PlayStation, TV, and these," he smiled rolling back the sleeves of his sweater revealing the silver gauntlets on his wrist, "I finally get to learn how to start deflecting bullets—you know, without relying on my skin."

"Awesome! Bruce got me these cool new night sticks to work with! You wanna go practice with them in the gym?"

"Hell yeah!"

In the living room, all four adults felt a sense of dread as the two fourteen-year-olds raced past in a blur, and eerie cackles following behind them. Alfred tossed a sidelong glance at the other adults, "Whatever chaos happens between those two, I do expect you to clean it up Master Bruce."

The Dark Knight sighed, taking a sip of his coffee; he loved that Dick now had a friend to spend the holidays with when Wallace would be busy. After all, he, Clark, and Diana always spent various holidays at each other's houses, it was only a matter of time before Onyx would learn their secret IDs.

However, with the echoing cackles, he was starting to wonder how much more chaotic the holidays were now going to be from there. Richard alone could cause _a lot_ of chaos, now there were two teenage idiots, plus pets to keep track of…He was going to need something stronger to drink.

**A/N: Hey guys, I figured this would be a cute filler chapter of just having everyone relax and enjoy a break before things started to get rough for them again. Hope y'all enjoyed it and I'll see y'all in the next chapter! Merry Christmas! :)**


	33. Double Agents

Chapter 32

**A/N: hey guys! I'm back for another chapter! Glad to see y'all're enjoying the story so far. Remember, I just own my hybrid OCs and the story, otherwise I don't own YJ or the JPs.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**T****_elepathy/flashbacks._**

**Washington D.C, December 30, 0916:EST**

"The Justice League was formed for two reasons. First, as an acknowledgement that no single individual, no matter how powerful, can solve all the world's problems alone. Second, to uphold the values of truth, liberty, and justice. Uh, that last one's even in the name," Superman smiled and the crowd laughed. "These five heroes have sworn to uphold those values."

"You are watching live coverage of the Justice League's induction of its five newest members," Cat Grant began. "Looks like the entire League's shown up to welcome the new blood. Everyone from Batman to Captain Marvel."

"I'm glad they didn't kick Billy out," Wally said taking a bite out of and apple. "And I love the fact that there's a ten-year-old on the League."

"There is?" Remix, Nightmare, and the new girl sitting with the Team in the Hall of Justice spoke up in confusion.

"Way to keep a secret genius," Robin said elbowing the speedster.

"Hey, they're on the Team now right? Besides, Onyx was missing when we found out," Wally defended.

"Superman is now handing out official League membership cards, starting with Dr. Fate, the Atom, Plastic Man, and Icon."

"You know, I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place. I should be out celebrating with him, not hidden away in here!"

"Welcome to our world," Kaldur shrugged.

"Finally, Green Arrow, welcomes his former protégé Speedy, now known as Red Arrow to this roster of heroes."

"Way to go Roy!" Wally cheered.

"At last he has his wish."

"First of us to make it, no one will call him a sidekick anymore."

"Wait? Since when is being a sidekick a bad thing?" Rocket questioned. "You sidekicks were my inspiration."

"Well…" Robin began only to stop as his watch began beeping.

-.-

**Smokey Mountains, 10:48EST**

"Are you sure it's her?" Artemis asked as the Bioship flew through the snow-capped mountains. "Are you positive?"

"See for yourself," Robin said projecting the file. "This is the security footage from the Ashfield Regional Airport. Facial recognition confirms that Jade Nguyen, but you've seen her without her mask, what do you think?"

"It's Jade—Cheshire."

"Agreed, but focus on what she carries," Aqualad said and the image shifted down to the case in the assassin's hand. "Is that the case you saw in New Orleans? The one that got away?"

"Yes."

"Ok, I get from this mug shot, that this is the bad guy, but what's so important about that case?" Rocket questioned.

"Remember the Injustice League?"

"And their giant evil plants? How could I forget?" she grumbled crossing her arms.

"The Team and the League put them in prison, but their allies still scheme. And whatever's in that case seems important to their plan."

"We had a chance to catch them in New Orleans," KF growled glaring at a certain archer, "but someone screwed up."

"Remix, you worked with the bad guys," Superboy spoke up, "You got any ideas?"

"Wait—she was a bad guy?!"

The Pteranodon hybrid tossed a glare at the newest member before looking at the case. "I'm not sure. Rogue was the one who was fully apprised on everything. She just gave us the orders. But, I do know that the Injustice League was just a front for the real group."

"WHAT?!"

She nodded, "The real masterminds call themselves the Light," she said typing and images began to appear on the screen, "there are a total of seven bosses overall: Vandal Savage, Klarion Witch Boy, Queen Bee, Lex Luthor, the Brain, Ocean Master, and R'as al Ghul. They run the entire operation, sending us—my old team out on missions to collect items or eliminate targets that could interfere with their master plan. Unfortunately, I was never told what the endgame was, sorry." She turned to look at Onyx, "I don't suppose they told you anything?"

The other hybrid shook his head, "No. I think they were too worried I'd be compromised again."

"No matter, that is far more information than what we had before," Aqualad said.

"We so have to tell the League about this!" Rocket exclaimed.

"We will," Artemis reassured, "once we finish the mission."

"Approaching Cheshire's jet," M'gann spoke up as they came around a bend.

Everyone gasped at the sight in front of them. Lying in a low valley the jet lied scattered across the ground, showing evidence of a crash. The Bioshipe landed and everyone got off to begin looking around. "How come Homeland Security and NTSB aren't all over this?" Wally asked.

"Cheshire was a League alert," Robin said. "Authorities didn't pick it up and her jet didn't follow its scheduled flight plan. Literally flew under the radar. The Watchtower autotracked the chip and the crash."

"So why isn't the League all over this?" Remix questioned.

"Cause our Boy Wonder has some mighty hacking skills, for us to get the Alert first," Zatanna smirked.

"And because Cheshire and that case represent our unfinished mission."

"Here's what I'm concerned about," Onyx spoke up crossing his arms, "I've seen a fair share of plane crashes on Sorna. And the only reason those ones didn't have bodies is cause they were torn apart and eaten. Last I checked, there wasn't anything here that could completely devour a human being in a single bite in the US."

"He's right, where are the bodies?"

"Here's one! And it is stunning," Cheshire spoke.

"I am flora, not fauna. I am foliage, not trees. What am I?" the Riddler asked as he stood on the ridge with Mammoth and the other Hybrids. He snapped his fingers and pilons began rising from the ground on the surrounding ridge. "Come on you can get this. I am shrubbery, not grass. What am I?"

"Ambush."

"Did you really think we didn't know that you were keeping an eye on Cheshire?" Rogue sneered, looking down at them with a smirk. "The bosses are tired of your interference, we're in the endgame."

"So I'm guessing Savage is about to go through with his master plan?" Remix snarled.

Amber eyes widened and the other hybrid looked pissed. "You told _them…_TRAITOR!" The Indominus hybrid lunged, and Remix flew up, meeting her punch with equal force.

_"Is everyone linked?"_

_"Yep."_

_"Go!"_

"Evig su eht revoc fo wons!"

Onyx shot into the air, throwing out his lasso, he grabbed Rogue by her ankle and yanked down. A crater formed from the impact and she stood up, glaring at the two traitors as they landed on either side of her.

The other members of the Team rushed forwards to handle the shadows as the assassins all hopped down from the ridge. Aqualad swung his mace up, knocking two foot soldiers aside before he rolled back as Seaspray landed right where'd he'd previously been. "Hello Kaldur, good to see you again," she smirked.

"I wish I could say likewise," he replied raising his weapons as she pulled out two short knives. _"Superboy, Nightmare, Remix the pylons!"_

_"We're busy!"_ the two hybrids exclaimed.

_"Just a sec," _Conner replied running behind a piece of the crashed plane. Pulling out a small box, he looked at the little red shield sitting in it. "Last one. Better make it count." Rolling up his sleeve he put the patch on and covered it up, grimacing as he felt a slight burn. Feeling it subside, he sighed. Time to get to work.

Remix grunted as she was slammed against the cliff wall. Shaking the snow off, she smirked as Nightmare tackled Rogue, giving her time to get to her feet and grab her weapon.

"Father should've listened, mixing hero blood was always a bad idea. They're nothing but weaklings and traitors."

Standing up, Skylar glared at Barbarian as he approached her. Oh God, she's been looking forwards to knocking him off his high horse for a long time. "How about I show you who's the weak one," she snarled lunging at him.

Rocket flew around the battlefield, taking out the small fry attempting to attack the others. This was crazy. Her first mission and they were already in a full-blown battle against advanced tech, assassins, and hybrid monsters. Was everything always _this_ crazy? Flying up to pinpoint her next target, she screamed as something began electrocuting her. Falling to the ground, she could barely make out Aqualad running towards her, ripping the object causing the pain away. Sitting up, she had just enough time to see Kaldur sinking down into the ground as one of the hybrids rushed at him. Flying at him, the ankylosaur slid under her arms, rolling to his feet and grabbing her ankle tossing her to the ground.

Rogue snarled punching towards Nightmare. Grabbing her arm, the male hybrid flipped her over his shoulder and tossed her towards the cliff. Only, she didn't slam into it like he planned. Rogue stopped herself midair, steadying herself as her hands began to glow violet. "You really think you're the only one still developing powers?"

Growling, Onyx bared his fangs and flew up to meet her. His electrified fist make impact against an energy shield.

_"SB you're flying!"_

"What?!" Onyx exclaimed turning to see his teammate currently carrying Mammoth _in the air_.

The glow next to him got brighter and Onyx cursed himself ducking as Rogue blasted a column of energy at him. Flipping over, he grabbed his lasso and tossed it out at her again, successfully catching her ankles. Yanking down, she yelped as he pulled her towards him and punched her into the cliff, causing a large white plume of snow to rise up.

That's when there was a loud rumble, and the cliffside began to give way.

"Robin!" he exclaimed tossing his rope out and yanking his friend back from the avalanche coming his way. The Boy Wonder rolled to his feet tossing the hybrid a thumb's up before going after one of the other dudes. "Did I do that?"

"That would be the doing of our fellow clone," Remix said flying up. "Something's wrong with him. Where's Rogue?"

"Where's Barbarian?" he countered.

"Eit mih pu!"

"NO! NO! I'M STRICTLY BELE REV NOT ARKHAM!"

"Gag mih."

Looking at each other, the two hybrids flew up, landing beside Zatanna and Rocket.

"Is it always like this?" the new girl asked.

"Considering our last mission, I'm gonna go with yes," Remix answered.

"Hguone htiw eht ebolgwons."

The snow cleared and everyone examined the battlefield frowning. "Where'd they go?" Wally questioned lifting his goggles as he looked for the other hybrids.

"I don't know, but something tells me this was too easy."

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 15:45EST**

"Let me see if this sounds familiar," Batman began, "You hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol, and endangered your lives. Plus, your initiative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons, proving Warden Strange runs Bele Rev as a cover for the criminal activity of the Light; which is lead by Vandal Savage, Queen Bee, Klarion Witch Boy, R'as al Ghul, Lex Luthor, the Brain, and Ocean Master. Who use their interconnected criminal resources to send various supervillains and the hybrids on missions to complete their objective."

"Sounds about right!" Remix spoke up as the others panicked.

"Well done," he smiled taking note of several sighs of relief. "And then there's this," he stepped forwards and opened the case, pulling out a small chip within, "biotechnology integrated with some form of nanocircuitry."

Icon reached in and grabbed a chip, "Though I am unfamiliar with this species, the bio component is clearly alien."

Batman nodded, setting the chips back into the case. "We'll take it to the Watchtower for further study."

"Recognized: Batman—02. Red Tornado—16."

"Congrats on the League thing!" Rocket said hopping up beside Icon. "Sorry I skipped out."

"Yes well, we both seem to have found teams that suit us," Icon smiled giving Rocket a nod.

"We should go too," BC spoke up, "don't wanna miss the League's induction party."

"Recognized: Black Canary—13. Icon—20."

"You realize we were set up," Robin spoke up the moment the adults were gone.

"Yeah, that was way too easy," Nightmare agreed crossing his arms.

"Yes, Cheshire, Riddler, and the other hybrids were _tipped _and ready for us."

Artemis groaned loudly, "Not the mole thing again."

"Mole thing? Again?"

"Sportsmaster sowed seeds of trust a few months ago in the effort to make the Team fall apart," Remix informed with a shrug. "The bosses figured it'd be easier to take you out while fighting amongst yourselves."

"So…there isn't a mole?"

Everyone looked to Remix as the Thangarian girl sighed, "I never said that; I just don't know. I wasn't Rogue's right hand on the team, that was Barbarian. They were the only ones who knew _everything_. The rest of us just followed orders."

"So basically what she's saying is that the suspects for being a traitor are Artemis, M'gann or me!" Conner growled storming away.

"But your recent behavior does concern me," Kaldur spoke up. "Your attack on Mammoth nearly got Artemis and Robin killed."

Conner continued stomping away before gabbing his ears as a high-pitched ring came through them, he could barely make out Remix and Nightmare yelping as their sensitive ears picked up the noise as well. "Superboy, I believe you used up the last of your shields. I have more. Meet me on Santa Prisca."

The ringing cleared and Remix flew over slamming Conner into the wall and holding up her mace, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"Whoa!"

"Remix!"

"Conner…" Onyx spoke looking wary, still holding a hand over one of his ears, "why did I hear Lex Luthor?"

All heads turned to the superclone for answers. "I'll tell you, just let me up."

Slitted green eyes glanced at the others and she reluctantly stood down at Kaldur's nod. "Well?"

"Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to Cadmus. Found a few things out," he began. "When I was cloned, only half the DNA was Superman's. The other half was human. That's why I don't have—will never have full Kryptonian powers."

"You sure seemed to have them today," Robin remarked.

"I've been using these," he answered rolling up his sleeve, revealing a black shield on his forearm, "they're called Shields. They suppress my human DNA; I get the flight, the heat vision, but I think I also get angry—well, angrier. I'm sorry."

"Where did you get those?" Kaldur asked.

"From my human father, Lex Luthor."

Eyes around the room widened. "Lex Luthor is you dad?!"

"He's summoned me to Santa Prisca."

A tense silence settled over the group, Artemis breaking it not too long later with a sigh, "Ugh, listen. Superboy's not the only one suffering from bad blood." She strode to the monitor pulling up her family. "My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. The rest of my family aren't even ex: my dad's Sportsmaster, and he's sending my sister Cheshire to pick me up and take me to Santa Prisca."

"That's why…"

"Yeah, I was so desperate for you all not to find out—"

"I knew," Robin spoke and all heads turned to him. "Hey, detective. But it never mattered, you aren't your family. You're one of us."

Wally stepped forwards, placing a hand on the archer's shoulder. "So, uh, who's next?"

"I am," M'gann spoke.

"I swear I was kidding."

"Queen Bee's been…blackmailing me, she wants me in Santa Prisca too."

"Blackmailing, how?"

"She knows my real Martian form."

"Bald M'gann?" the boys questioned and Onyx raised a brow, sharing a confused shrug with the others who were out of the loop.

"No," she said. Taking a step back, she sighed and…changed. In her place, stood a tall, white, alien being with long arms and pink growths.

"Whoa."

_"I realized you would never except me if you saw what I really am,"_ she stated hugging herself.

"M'gann, did we truly seem so shallow?" Kaldur questioned.

"Girl, two of us have scales, wings, and tails," Remix said. "You're more normal than us."

_"I couldn't take the chance. Being a white Martian among the green on Mars…I endured constant rejection. I couldn't face that from—"_

"From me?" Conner interrupted stepping forwards and taking her hand. _"I've known since we mind melded in September in Bialya."_

_"But…that was before we even became a couple. Why didn't you say anything?"_

_"I figured you would tell me when you were ready."_

"Ok! Anyone else?!" Wally shouted.

Onyx hesitantly raised a hand, "I may or may not have also been requested to go to Santa Prisca."

"What?"

Onyx nodded, "When we were at Lockwood Manor, I found Dr. Wu," several of the other stiffened at the mention of the infamous mad scientist. "I was about to arrest him when he told me something…something about my father."

"Your father?" Robin asked.

The male hybrid nodded, "As y'all know, my mom's an Amazon; my father's named Darkseid."

"That name doesn't sound intimidating or anything," Rocket muttered.

"About a week ago I went to Isla Nycta…Savage was waiting for me. Apparently he and my father are _old_ friends. They've apparently known each other since the Mongol Empire was a thing. Other than that I don't know much; Savage said if I want to find out more, I needed to go to Santa Prisca."

"That's all he gave you?" Artemis frowned.

The hybrid shrugged, crossing his arms. "He gave me enough to keep my attention. Otherwise for all I know my father's a frickin fairy!"

"Could be a trap."

"It might be, but…"

Conner nodded in understanding, "But you also want answers."

The younger man gave a sharp nod, "I need to know. How can I control my powers if I don't even know _what_ I am?"

"Well then," Remix smirked raising a brow, "maybe we should get a little payback. Play them like they played us."

-.-

**Santa Prisca, 17:57ECT**

Superboy flew on the supercycle towards the tropical island where the Team had their first unaccompanied mission. Landing in a clearing, he turned to greet Lex Luthor and Queen Bee and her two sons.

"Welcome Superboy!" Luthor greeted, "I'd like to introduce you to my associate, Queen Bee. And her sons, Drake Savage who you know as Barbarian, and Tyrone Bee or Tyrant, her eldest the heir to the throne."

"Long time no see."

"Stop being an idiot brother."

"Boys," the Queen scolded lightly, "that's no way to greet our guest."

"I believe you know everyone else, Sportsmaster, Mercy, Blockbuster, and our new friend Bane. Who's allowed us use of his island in exchange for certain…considerations."

"So the Injustice League was just a distraction," he pretended to connect. "You two have been behind everything from the start."

Luthor chuckled, "A flattering notion, but we have many friends."

He motioned to the helicopter that began to fly over. "This one of your friends now?"

"No my boy, one of yours."

Hovering over the clearing, the aircraft began to descend, allowing Artemis and Cheshire to step out. "Artemis?"

The archer looked away, stepping between her sister and father. "The hero thing wasn't working out, you get how it is: no trust," she said as Sportsmaster put a hand on her shoulder. "This is where I belong."

"It's a fast growing club," Queen Bee smiled as the Bioship flew over, allowing Miss M to drop down. Lowering her hood, the Martian girl's eyes widened in shock.

"Why are they here? You promised!"

"I've kept your secret and my promise. Time to fulfill your end of the bargain."

"I see everyone's arrived," a new voice spoke and they all turned to see Vandal Savage standing with Remix and Nightmare.

"What the hell is this?" Nightmare hissed, "You promised me answers!"

"And you'll get them," he replied calmly.

"Remix, why are you—" Conner began only to be cut off as she laughed.

"You really think I went _good_? What can I say, being bad is so fun," she smirked twirling her mace. "At least I got a cool weapon outta it."

Narrowing his eyes, Conner looked at Luthor, "Give me more shields, and I'm in too."

Luthor chuckled, striding up to him with a small smile, "My boy, you're a terrible liar."

He'd been made, eyes widening he stepped forwards ready to fight.

"Red Sun."

"So, what are we doing?" Remix smirked.

"You two, follow me!" Sportsmaster ordered motioning to Artemis and Miss Martian.

"What about Superboy?"

"He'll be fine. He just needs a few…adjustments," the queen replied coyly.

The girl nodded, walking forwards reluctantly past her friend. "Bring him," Luthor ordered turning to Blockbuster.

Artemis's eyes narrowed and she ran forwards knocking her bow and firing at Blockbuster, trapping in the high-density foam. Flipping around, she whirled on her family, "Sorry Dad, wanted to play you like you tried to play me, but I can't let them mess with Superboy's head."

_"M'gann be a dear and take Artemis out,"_ Bee ordered.

The Martian girl turned, eyes glowing she used her telekinesis to yank Artemis in the air as her father attempted to attack her. Turning her head, she slammed Queen Bee, Barbarian, and Tyrant into a tree. She knocked the Queen out cold, her two sons on the other hand were less than pleased. _"Queen Bee is down, Superboy, Onyx, you two are safe from her control."_

Without missing a beat, the raptor hybrid punched Savage in the face, knocking him back across the field.

"Nice hit," Remix congratulated before flying over and tackling Barbarian. "Now, I believe we have an unfinished match!"

"Like you ever beat me in training," he sneered. "You were always weaker."

"Guess what you asshole, I've learned a few new things," she snarled charging forwards. Barbarian spun around, swinging his massive tail. Sliding to her knees, Remix flattened herself along the ground, feeling grass skim along the back of her wings. Once the spiked tail passed over her, she launched off the ground, slamming her mace into his jaw. Taking advantage of his stumble, she kicked out, landing her heel in his gut before jumping up and delivering a spin kick to his face.

"Ha! You're more like your father than you know," Savage chuckled as he wiped the blood off his jaw from Nightmare's latest strike.

"I may not know who he is, but I'm nothing like him," Nightmare snarled pulling out his lasso and tossing it.

Savage grabbed the rope, attempting to yank the teen down, only he was caught off guard by volts of lightning arching down the rope. There was a shout and Savage found the ground disappearing from under him as he was swung across the field. The lasso slipped from his grasp and the immortal collided with Bane's men.

Getting up, Savage looked at Luthor who nodded, helping pick up the unconscious Queen as her eldest used his telekinesis to send the Atlantean flying back. Gazing across the field, he found his son battling the traitor. Grey eyes met his own and Drake used his limited telekinesis to knock her back, taking the opportunity to join them in their strategic retreat.

Conner sighed in relief as a familiar lasso wrapped around Blockbuster's arm. Above him, Nightmare yanked on the rope, causing the mutant to hit himself in the face and stumble off the clone. Getting up, Superboy jumped forwards, punching his former-keeper between the eyes. Continuing to use the momentum to his advantage, he grabbed the beast's shoulders, flipped over him and planted his feet on the ground before hurling Desmond.

Blackbuster gave a startled shout as he was pulled into the air, crying out as a lasso wrapped around his ankles and Nightmare spun him around. "BATTER UP!"

Conner smirked when he let Desmond go and sent him flying into Remix's mace. As Desmond began to fall, he jumped up, punching the ex-doctor again, sending him crashing down on Sportsmaster that Artemis had trapped at some point in some mud.

"Whew! It is always like this!" Rocket said as they regrouped after restraining all the bad guys.

"Told ya," Zatanna sighed.

"Hey disaster averted, feeling the aster."

"Agreed."

"You know I think I'm gonna enjoy being a hero much more than being a bad guy," Remix smiled.

"See," Onyx smiled playfully elbowing her.

"I don't know about you all, but I think this calls for some celebratory food!"

-.-

**Watchtower, 23:46EST**

Batman looked over the scans of the chip, finding the results more and more concerning.

"So are you ever joining the party?" Red Arrow asked.

"This biocircuitry is disturbingly sophisticated," he replied.

"I'll take that as a no," RA said slapping a chip onto the Bat.

Leading the way, Batman walked between the other frozen Leaguers right to the Zeta Tubes. "Override: Batman—02."

"Recognized. Access granted: Vandal Savage—A04."


	34. Happy New Year

Chapter 33

**A/N: hey guys! Here we are, the final episode of season one! Don't worry, story ain't over yet. Just excited to finally finish up the season! Hope all've y'all liked the last chapter and enjoy this one! Remember, I just own the hybrids, nothing else is mine.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**T****_elepathy/flashbacks_**

**Mt. Justice, December 31 07:16EST**

"Why are we here so early?" Remix yawned stretching her wings.

"Cause Bats called," Nightmare grumbled patting the top of Indie's head as the Indoraptor trotted off to go play with Wolf and Blue.

"We have reason to feel proud of yesterday's victories," Aqualad said as the team walked to the meeting room, "but one thing is certain."

"Somehow the bad guys are still getting inside intel about us," Robin finished.

"Yeah, but at least we know none of us are the mole," Wally spoke optimistically.

"That's correct," Batman replied making all the teens look at each other. "The mole was Red Arrow."

"Roy?"

"No way!"

"Batman that cannot be!" Aqualad spoke up. "He was Green Arrow's protégé, we've all known him for years."

This time, it was Tornado who replied, "Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Cadmus clone."

"We've learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced almost immediately after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick. The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League; which is why we was so angry over any delays to his mission and why he refused to join the team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone or a traitor. And his subconscious programming drove him to become League-worthy. So he struck out on his own as Red Arrow. When he was finally admitted, his secondary programming kicked in, and he attempted to betray the League to Vandal Savage. Fortunately, I had already deduced Red Arrow was a clone. We were prepared."

Onyx tilted his head, cautiously sniffing the air. Why…why did Batman smell off?

"Savage was subdued, but Red Arrow escaped. He is now a fugitive, considered armed and dangerous."

Conner shivered, rubbing the back of his neck, "If you guys hadn't rescued me from Cadmus…"

Remix and Nightmare gave him supportive looks. "At least we were cloned before the programming was a thing," the Pteranodon hybrid grimaced not wanting to imagine their fates.

"So what happened to the real Roy?" Robin inquired.

"We don't know. He isn't at Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead."

"We will deploy," Kaldur stated, "the Team will find him."

"Negative, Red Arrow is a member of the Justice League now. Leave him to us," Batman ordered before tapping his comm. "I'm needed on the Watchtower, Red Tornado stay with the kids."

"Recognized: Batman—02."

_"Clone or not Red Arrow was one of us,"_ Kaldur said turning to the others, _"we will bring him to justice."_

_"I just need his scent,"_ Onyx replied swinging his tail signaling to his pack members.

**"What is it?"**

**"Are we going to hunt?"**

**"We're going to need to find someone, and we're ****_not_**** killing, maiming, or mauling,"** Onyx answered ignoring their irritated grumbles.

The sound of something powering down caught their attention and all heads turned to the now shut down hero. "_Tornado?"_

_"What happened to him?"_

_"He's all powered down."_

_"He's offline."_

_"What the heck would cause that?"_

_"Guys,"_ Zatanna spoke up, _"I'm sensing a low level mystic force at play. I don't know if it cause his shut down, but, now that I think about it, I was getting the same buzz off Batman."_

_"That might explain why he smelled strange,"_ Onyx added crossing his arms. _"Not like he was lying but like…I don't know, it was just off."_

_"Can you smell RT's scent?"_ Rocket asked and the others all raised a brow before she smacked her forehead. _"Machine, forgot about that. No scent."_

_"Batman…_" Robin frowned, _"he called us kids. He never does that."_

_"Look,"_ Wally said reaching into Tornado's hand and pulling out one of the chips, _"it's one of those biotech chips we confiscated from Cheshire."_

_"Something is not right."_

_"I'll say, that battle felt too easy,"_ Remix hissed.

_"Robin, Zatanna, Kid, Rocket, see if you can get Red Tornado back online. The rest with me to find Ro—Red Arrow,"_ Aqualad corrected.

**"Let's go,"** Onyx barked and he and the raptors followed everyone towards the bioship.

-.-

**Washington D.C**

"Computer logs indicate Red Arrow zetaed to the Hall from the Watchtower," Artemis said, "but he could be anywhere by now."

"When Roy went solo, he put equipment caches in several major cities, one is here."

Flying over a building, everyone jumped down holding their weapons. Nightmare crept forwards, sniffing the air as they made their way through the halls. _"He's here, I have his scent,"_ he relayed. Giving a short bark to Indie and Blue the other two bowed their heads and began sniffing. With that, the three trackers split up to search the different floors.

The team peered over the stair railings, watching as Blue ran into the floor below them before darting back out, chasing after Nightmare and Indie as they shot to a door below.

_"Down here!"_

Chasing after, the team made it down the stairs in time to see Indie break down the door. An arrow flew over the raptor, Blue climbed up the male, leaping off into the room where they heard a loud thud.

Entering the doorway, they all stared as Blue pinned their former teammate down, growling loudly.

"Onyx, release him," Kaldur ordered. Gold eyes glanced his way, narrowing suspiciously. With a reluctant nod, he gave a short trill and Blue let Roy up retreating a few steps and circling him with Indie. "We have not come to harm or apprehend you. But we require answers."

"Me first," Roy growled. "Tell me something you never told anyone else. Tell me who broke your heart?"

Aqualad sighed, "Tula. The girl I loved chose my best friend Garth over me, while my best friend on the surface, stands accused of being a traitor."

"So are you going to explain what's going on?" Remix asked.

Onyx bared his fangs, "And don't lie, I can tell."

With a gulp, Red Arrow nodded. "Let's get to the Bioship. I'll explain everything there."

-.-

"We were told you were the mole, but we have reason to doubt," Kaldur began as the ship flew in camouflage mode.

"Don't doubt, I was the mole."

All eyes glanced to the resident lie-detector who nodded his head. He was telling the truth.

"Batman and Red Tornado said you're a Cadmus clone, like me," Conner spoke up.

Roy scoffed, "A clone, that explains it. I was a sleeper agent, pre-programmed to infiltrate the League. I…I think Sportsmaster was my handler."

"That makes sense," Remix commented. "He's the Light's Primary enforcer. If there would be anyone they trusted enough to handle a sleeper agent, it'd be him."

"Well that's news. But I remember, he had a phrase, some sort of code that shut me down, put me in some sort of trance to steal secrets for his superiors or incorporate new programming. I'd then carry out all orders subconsciously, completely unaware of what drove me," he said turning to them. "I think one of those orders was to focus suspicion on the three of you. I'm sorry."

"How did Batman discover this? How did he prevent you from betraying the League?"

"He didn't," Roy answered and all of them felt their stomachs drop as he explained what happened, "I was the means, Savage's using something called Starotech to control the League. They're under his complete control."

"So why are you no longer under their control?" M'gann asked.

"No Starotech for starters, just my Cadmus programming. And once I satisfied my last order, my mind cleared. I'm sure Savage planned to infect me too, but he stopped to bask. I used the opportunity to escape."

"I promise, I can clean any residual programming from your mind," Miss M reassured before she tilted her head. "Robin and the others are below us. Decamouflaging and regrouping."

-.-

**Watchtower, 23:16EST**

"Recognized: Black Canary—13. Red Tornado—16. Red Arrow—21."

"Any problems?" Savage asked.

"Despite an initial setback I was able to reinfect Red Tornado and Red Arrow," Canary replied.

"As well as the entire Team. They await reprogramming back on Earth."

"I think not," Savage smiled. "You see Starotech doesn't reprogram the mind, but give remote control of it."

"We know exactly who's infected and none of you are!" Klarion grinned.

Canary opened her mouth, only to have her cry cut off by a green band wrapping around her mouth and pushing her arms to her sides. Glancing at RT and RA she found them restrained similarly.

"But that is easily rectified," Savage said walking towards them. "Fifty-thousand years of bloodshed and nothing ever troubled me as much as the formation of the Justice League. Dedicated to maintaining society's calcified status quo," he placed a chip on Canary, "the League would protect mankind from disaster, crime, tragedy of any kind. Have you never heard of the survival of the fittest? In essence you heroes are protecting humanity from its own glorious evolution! As such, you forced my more enlightened colleagues and myself to organize a response. We created a cooperative network of operatives," he placed a chip on Tornado, "placed key individuals in key positions. Made certain we were on the cutting edge of all new technologies," he placed the last chip on RA, "genetic engineering, biochemical engineering, robotics, nanorobotics, even techno-sorcery. Not to mention every conceivable method of mind control. Cold, hard science and a littler misdirection and now you champions of stagnation have become our agents of change; forcing the human race to evolve on a more advanced schedule, allowing the Earth to take its rightful place as the center of the cosmos."

-.-

_"RT did it, wirelessly bypassed security for us as soon as he arrived,"_ Robin relayed. _"Savage shouldn't know we're here."_

_"Move out!"_

In one room, Plastic Man was stacking boxes. Out of the shadows, an arrow flew out, exploding and releasing gas contents into the air. Coughing, the stretchable man pulled back only to have something slapped on the back of his neck.

In the hall Remix hopped between upper levels watching her father down below. "Sorry Dad," she muttered diving down. Sensing something behind him, Hawkman turned to get a mace to the face, knocking him flat on his back. Remix landed on her father's chest, slamming the cure on him and hopping off once he was unconscious.

In another room, the Atom stood dissecting more of the starfish. "Etativel a eceip otni eht ria." Seeing a piece begin to rise from the ground, Atom began to grow to catch it only for an invisible Martian to stick a chip on his back.

Captain Atom fired energy blasts at the glowing dome encircling him. It lowered behind him first, allowing Aqualad to use a water whip to slap the cure on the silver hero.

-.-

"The brats are aboard!" Klarion hissed. "They've taken away four of my toys!"

"Recall all League away missions. It's time to put these brats in their place once and for all."

Klarion grinned. "FINALLY!" he cheered only to frown as his cat hissed at him. "Oh yeah, Vandal, shouldn't those three be back online?"

"What?!"

Savage turned and Canary screamed, her sonic cry tossing Hal into a wall and pushing Savage back. Red Arrow ran over, giving Green Lantern a cure chip as the others handled Savage and Klarion.

"You'll be sorry!" the Chaos lord cackled as a boomtube opened, allowing Hawkwoman, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Manhunter, and the other Green Lantern to appear.

Canary gave another cry as Manhunter charged, density shifting the Martian ran through her cry, punching her back. Steadying herself, blue eyes widened as Hawkwoman appeared in her field of vision, swinging her mace.

Red Arrow notched a flaming arrow, firing at the Martian. As he planned, he density shifted through it, causing him to gasp as he felt the effects of his weakness. Collapsing to his knees, Roy fired at Batman, who simply smacked his arrow aside before lunging at him. Nearby, Tornado was outmatched, attempting to use his powers to fend off Wonder Woman and Superman. Behind him Lantern made a construct, with grabbed the android, allowing both heroes to rip his limbs off.

"The children have clearly reverse engineered a Starotech cure vaccine, so there's no point in taking them alive," Savage growled.

"Goody."

-.-

"Recognized: Captain Marvel—15. Dr. Fate—17. Icon—20."

As the group stepped out of the tube, M'gann sent several chips flying down at them. One managed to land a hit on Fate, but the other two were vaporized before they could even reach their targets, the blast hitting Miss M and knocking her down.

Rocket and Nightmare shot out from the shadows. The heroine quickly cured Icon, but Marvel turned around, sending a bolt of lighting at Onyx. Channeling his own energy, the hybrid grimaced before firing it back, sending the hero slamming into a wall near Zatanna who gave him a chip.

_"Too bad Curotech doesn't work as fast as Starotech, we could use these guys."_

_"It is a miracle Queen Mera and Drs. Roquette, Spence, and Volko were able to make a cure at all."_

_"Hey, if you guys aren't busy."_

_"On my way, the rest of you rendezvous with Robin, Remix, and Superboy."_

-.-

Two morning star maces collided and Remix bared her fangs as she fought her mother. As Hawkwoman began an attempt to knee her, Skylar vaulted off her knee into the air, before throwing one of her old bolas at her, tying the woman's wings together as she attempted to fly off the ground. Wolf tackled her down, allowing Robin to apply the cure.

A lasso flew at the Boy Wonder and a dome rose around him, protecting him from the rope. A shrill cry came and Indie tackled Diana from above, allowing Blue to run by and pick up the rope in her jaws and take off with the Amazon's primary weapon.

Hurling Indie off her, Remix grunted as the indoraptor slammed into her, sending them both crashing to the ground. Feeling weight on her wing, Skylar gave a pained cry as she felt a bone bend in a way it wasn't supposed to.

_"Remix?! Are you alright?"_ Rocket asked landing beside her teammate.

_"No, I think my wing's broken,"_ she hissed as the other girl helped her to her feet, "_but I can still fight."_

_"Negative Remix,"_ Robin said planting a chip on Lantern, _"You're grounded, even with your strength that wing of yours will hinder you. Rocket, get her outta here."_

The newest member gave a nod, forming a force bubble around them before they flew down the hall.

Diana few after them only to have a lasso wrap around her arms. Turning, Onyx leveled a glare at his mother. "I don't think so."

Grabbing the rope, Diana yanked on it and Nightmare shot forwards, giving no resistance. Raising a fist, he let lightning arch down as he punched her. Following through with the motion, he flipped in the air, and kicked her in the gut, using the lasso to swing her into Batman.

Hearing a grunt, he looked to see Conner fighting Manhunter and Superman alone. With a shrill whistle, Indie and Blue chased after Wolf and Sphere. The velociraptor and wolf jumped onto Superman, making him stumble. Quickly getting his bearings, he threw the canine off before grabbing Blue and hurling her off. Behind him, Indie swung his massive tail, knocking the hero's feet out from under him.

With a bark, he charged at Manhunter as he grabbed M'gann. Biting his leg, the Martian gave a pained cry releasing his niece. Using her telekinesis, she planted a Curotech chip and tossed her uncle into Superman, knocking both into the wall.

The Man of Steel got up, pushing Manhunter's unconscious body off him. Faster than a speeding bullet, his fist made impact with Miss Martian's face knocking her out cold.

At the sight, Conner growled and lunged at him. Throwing a punch, Superman ducked aside and grabbed his arm, hurling the teen through several floors.

Robin barely avoided getting crushed by Superboy as he fell through his floor. Flipping back, he ducked under one of Batman's punches before a kicked knocked him back. Springing to his feet, he pulled out two nightsticks and charged, swinging them at his mentor who parried in turn. Leaping up for a kick, Batman grabbed his leg, tossing him through the hole in the floor Conner made.

Landing on the ground, he sat up next to Superboy, before a third crash rumbled the floor. Turning, they both saw Nightmare getting up from a crater on the floor with glowing red eyes. "We're not gonna beat them one-on-one!"

"Plan B then!" Conner agreed, grabbing Robin and throwing him at Batman.

Seeing they had the situation handled, Onyx shot back up into the air. Instead of reaching for his rope, he pulled out his bo staff, catching his mother off guard as he switched weapons.

On the ground, Conner and Robin jumped as the ground shook again, revealing Onyx and Diana in the thick of combat. Grabbing his staff, the Amazonian princess ripped it out of his grasp, breaking the weapons in half before attempting to use it to attack him. Slipping within arm's reach, Onyx ducked under another of Wonder Woman's swings, grabbing his lasso. In one quick motion, he wrapped the lasso around one of her wrists before grabbing the other and coiling the rope around in. Springing over her, Onyx yanked on the rope, causing Diana to fall onto her back as her hands were suddenly yanked over her head behind her. Cureotech in hand, Onyx placed it on Diana, releasing the lasso once she was out.

"Y'all alright?" he asked turning to Conner and Robin.

"Yeah, a few broken ribs, some kryptonite poisoning," Robin panted. "You?"

"Been worse, let's regroup with the others!" the small band ran up into the main hangar of the Watchtower, finding Aqualad kneeling over Red Tornado.

"Congratulations, you have won the day," Tornado praised.

"Happy new year, Justice League," the Computer read showing the time as some music started to play.

Wally scooped Artemis off her feet with a smile. "I should've done this a long time ago."

"No kidding," Artemis agreed kissing him.

Conner turned to his girlfriend and they shared their own celebratory kiss as Robin yelped as Zatanna dragged him into one.

Meanwhile, Rocket walked up to Kaldur lightly kissing him on the cheek, "I'm liking this team thing more every day."

"You did good," Onyx said sitting beside Remix. "How's your wing?"

"It's been broken before, I just need a few weeks," she said punching his arm.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

"That was for not letting me help."

"That wasn't me! That was Rob!" he protested.

Remix rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek. "Sure it was dummy. This is for believing I could be a hero," she said yanking him into a kiss.

On the ground, Red Tornado stared at the ceiling not sure how to handle the group of kissing teenagers around him. "Human customs still elude me."

-.-

**January 1, 01:34EST**

"The entire League was under Savage's control for just over a day. We've accounted for most of that time, but these six went missing for a full sixteen hours we can't account for," Batman informed the rest of the League.

"Sixteen hours," Hawkwoman whispered. "We were unaccounted for sixteen hours, what did we do?"

"We don't know," Batman replied. "But Black Canary and Red Tornado informed me that we returned via Zeta Tube of some sort."

"Which probably means we were off somewhere in the world," one of the Lanterns spoke up.

"In all likely hood," Batman nodded.

"We'll have to check to see if there's been any incidents."

As the rest of her teammates began to talk amongst themselves, Diana walked out to the medbay, peering in over the group of slumbering teenagers. Not that she blamed them for resting after the day they had; poor kids had to be absolutely exhausted.

Sitting down on the edge of her son's bed, she gently traced a bruise on his jaw.

She did that, she hurt her little boy. Diana knew her actions weren't her own; but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt knowing that _she_ was the cause.

The Amazonian princess was dragged out of her thoughts by a slightly distressed whine; Onyx's browed furrowed in his sleep, eyes moving rapidly under closed lids. Brushing a lock of red and black hair out of the way, she silently pressed her forehead to his, "It's ok Little Hunter, it's just a dream," she whispered, pulling a blanket over his shoulders and softly pressing a kiss to his forehead, "you're safe."

To her relief, he didn't even appear to stir, merely slipping back into a peaceful sleep, the corners of his lips barely tilted up. Whatever dream her son was having now was clearly a good one.

"Bad dream?"

Reflexively grabbing her lasso, she sighed in relief as she just saw Bruce enter, coming to no doubt check on Dick. "Almost," she answered putting her lasso away. "How's Dick?"

If she weren't used to reading Bruce after all this time, she would've missed the way he frowned at that. Evidently she wasn't the only one feeling guilt. "He has a few fractured ribs and a sprained wrist. What about Onyx?"

"Just a few bruises and scrapes, otherwise he seems ok," she replied.

Her old friend nodded, a slight frown still present. "What about his mental state?"

She bit the inside of her cheek at then inevitable question. How was she supposed to know? Her sweet boy was unfortunately a lot like her; he didn't like burdening others with his problems. But…given his behavior in the past, she had no reason to suspect he was now scared of her. "Dinah might be more qualified to tell you about that, but he's not scared of me if that's what you're worried about."

Bruce nodded, "Good, trust me, having your own child afraid of you is an experience I wouldn't wish upon anyone."

"Scarecrow?" she asked getting a nod.

"Last encounter didn't go so well," he sighed. "But it comes with the job."

"I wish it didn't," Diana murmured brushing another stray lock out of Onyx's serene face, "they're too young."

"They all are, but it's better to have them going on missions we know about rather than sneaking off on their own like they did with Cadmus," he reminded, and as much as she wanted to disagree, Bruce had a valid point. Having the kids going on missions they knew about meant that if something went wrong they could intervene, and help them if needed. If they ran off on their own…she thought about the original Roy, repressing a shiver at whatever fate awaited the poor boy that fateful night. If they didn't make the team, that could've very well been their protégé's fates.

The door opened and the other mentors walked in, ending their conversation. They all looked as tired as she felt as they went to their respective proteges, checking them over. From what she could tell, Remix, Superboy, and Robin seemed to bear the brunt of the injuries. Robin had broken ribs, Conner was suffering from temporary kryptonite poisoning, and Skylar broke a wing; otherwise the group of teens seemed to be relatively fine besides a few burns, bruises, and scrapes.

"We should probably get them all home," Flash yawned, lightly shaking his nephew. Wally gave an unhappy whine, turning over in the bed and hiding under the pillow. Sighing, Barry, lifted the covers, causing the younger speedster to whine as he was blinded. "Come on slow poke, the sooner you get up the sooner you can go back to bed."

Dinah woke up Conner, Kaldur, Artemis, and Zatanna, all of whom looked a little dazed from their nap as they moved to follow her while J'ohn carried his niece. Roquelle, wasn't nearly as kind when Icon woke her up; she blasted him through a wall before groaning in realization.

Hawkman and Hawkwoman walked in, each taking a seat by their daughter's bed. No doubt the small family was going to stay at the Watchtower tonight so Skylar wouldn't further injure her broken wing. Though the Amazon Princess was curious on as to how the couple was going to keep their daughter in bed when she woke up. If raising her own hybrid child taught her anything, it was when they were given freedom, they weren't particularly willing to surrender it. And Skylar was more temperamental than Onyx.

Turning to Bruce, she smiled as he scooped Dick up in his arms, the small boy practically disappearing under the darkness of his mentor's cape. And, with that, she did the same. Picking Onyx up, she rested his head against her shoulder. A soft smile came to her face as he remained fast asleep, shifting in his slumber into a more comfortable position before his breathing deepened once again. Whistling for Blue and Indie, the two pack members got up, trotting over. It seemed like a good time for them all to head home. Gods knew they all needed a good night's sleep after today.

**A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!**


	35. Cold Case

Chapter 34

**A/N: hey guys! Welcome back for the next chapter of Half-Breed. Remember, I just own the story and OCs, nothing else is mine.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/Flashbacks_**

**Mt. Justice, January 15, 15:28EDT**

"…When your mission relies on subterfuge, resist the urge to go on the offensive. The last thing you want to risk is exposing yourself and the team, because a covert operation means keeping to the shadows. Concealing your identities, infiltrating your targets and that means advance research, study, and long hours on stakeout. And of course you must always remain alert…" Captain Atom trailed off as Conner yawned, his gaze falling on each teen. M'gann was daydreaming, Kaldur appeared to be dozing, Raquel had fallen asleep, Zatanna was doing little spells on her desk, Wallace was eating, Onyx and Robin were playing rock, paper, scissors, and Skylar was playing with her parrot while Artemis was doodling on the Pteranodon hybrid's wing-splint. "This is boring isn't it?"

"No Captain it's quite—"

"Yeah, it's boring," Conner interrupted.

"All right," he nodded, "Let's learn in the field then." everyone perked up in their seats as he pulled up a file, "This is a cold case, Vietnam era. Captain Nathaniel Adams, United States Air Force; convicted in 1968 or murdering Air Force General Clement Lemar. Adams died in prison, but I've received reliable intel that we was framed. Your assignment is to investigate. Prove Adams innocence or reconfirm his guilt and report back to me."

Conner raised a brow, "Really? You need superpowered operatives for _this_?"

The Silver hero shrugged crossing his arms, "Right then, I'll continue the lecture."

"NO!" the rest of the team screeched.

-.-

**Washington D.C. 23:03EDT**

_"Entering Pentagon now,"_ M'gann informed as she flew inside the building. Ducking into a bathroom, she decamouflaged and morphed into the form of an unassuming Pentagon officer. _"Coast is clear."_

Walking out of the bathroom, she strode down the hall towards a door. With a spot rap on the door, she stepped into an office, raising her arm into a salute. "General Eiling, Sir!"

"At ease Captain, sit," the general spoke. "Now, explain to me why the judge advocate general's office is reopening this case?"

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to do that sir," she answered taking a seat. "You were the judge at Adams' court martial. Which makes you a potential witness—"

"Witness?" he interrupted. "To what? The Adams case was open and shut."

"Why don't you just tell me what you remember general?" M'gann prodded glancing behind the General to the vent. Just through the grate, she could make out a small camera from where she sat. On the other side of the grate, Robin opened the feed, watching the interview.

"Fine. Captain Nate Adams was your classic malcontent. We were barely acquainted before the incident. In fact, I was better acquainted with his victim. Adams blamed Lemar for a Viet Cong ambush; as if any officer would intentionally get his own men killed. But Adams wouldn't listen to reason. He was caught in the act by an M.P. Sergant Polk, I think his name was. I was a colonel when I drew the case. I found Adams guilty and sentenced him to life in prison," the old general scoffed, "Turned out to be a short sentence. Adams took hos own life before a year was out…"

-.-

**Las Vegas, 20:12PDT**

"A Casino? Really?" Raquel grumbled as she and Zatanna followed behind Conner and Wally.

"This is where Captain Atom said to go," Zatanna shrugged as they walked inside. "Who is it we're looking for again?"

"Lieutenant Yarrow?" Conner called walking towards a Blackjack table.

"Guess we have our answer," Raquel muttered.

"No, the man grumbled swirling his drink. "Retired the uniform and the title. Now I'm just Mr. Yarrow. But you can call me Henry. Hit me." The dealer nodded, sliding a card over, Yarrow flipped in and cursed under his breath, "Twenty-two, bust."

"Sir, on one under twenty-one is allowed in the casino," the dealer spoke. "You are under twenty-one?"

"In weeks or months?" Conner quipped causing the others to snicker.

"Cute," the man snickered. "You must be the journalism students. C'mon, my luck's run out anyways. Let's find a place to talk."

The group walked over to a booth, sitting down as Wally ran off to get food. Coming back a few minutes later, they could see the redhead had a huge grin on his face. "Four-ninety-five all-you-can-eat buffet! My kind of town!"

"So," Raquel began, "you were Adams' defense counsel?"

"His friend too," Henry spoke. "We served together in 'Nam. The only survivors of Hill four-o-nine. Nate worked Air Force intelligence. He suspected a weapons smuggling ring and confided as much to General Lemar."

"So how does that lead to him being accused of murder?" Zatanna questioned.

"Lemar claimed to hear about the rumors too. He ordered Nate to take a squad to Hill Four-o-nine. It was an ambush," Henry continued looking down and fiddling with the ring on his finger, "Nate saved my life. The rest of Nate's men weren't so lucky. Afterwards, Nate became convinced that Lemar was part of the smuggling ring and sent us into the ambush. I tried to talk him out it…"

"Out of what?"

The former Lieutenant sighed, "Nate was insistent on confronting Lemar. But, he blacked out a moment later. Afterwards he'd claim to be drugged and I believed him, 'cuz there's no way the Nate Adams I knew would murder a man in cold blood. I took on Nate's defense, but the prosecutor, Lieutenant Kevin Blankly proved Nate's service knife was the murder weapon. And the medical examiner, Major Shirley Mason, testified there were no drugs in Nate's system. So, as a result, the judge found Nate guilty and sentenced him to life in prison," he slammed his fist on the table, making Wally and Zatanna jump, "and that's where Nate died! But, get this, that judge, Colonel Wade Eiling, he _married_ Nate's widow and raised Nate's two kids as his own! Don't tell me that doesn't stink to high heaven?!"

-.-

**Arlington, 23:57EDT**

"Hey SB, what's the word?" Onyx greeted.

/So get this, turns out Adams' buddy believed he was drugged and framed to commit the murder/ Conner informed. /But here's the thing, the medical examiner said there were no drugs in his system/

"That's weird."

"Yeah," Robin agreed pulling up a map, "If Adams was framed, looks like the place to start would be the medical examiner Shirley Mason."

"Where can we find her?" Miss M asked.

Closing the map, the Boy Wonder ran forwards, causing his two teammates to chase after him over the rooftops. They came to a window and the Martian used her telekinesis to open it.

Almost immediately, Onyx began growling. He knew that scent, he knew it all too well. This place had the scent of death.

Forcing his way in first, the hybrid crawled over the couch, sniffing the air to follow the scent. It didn't take long for his gaze to land on the body just a few feet in front of him.

"What is it?" Robin asked climbing in before he spotted his teammate crouching by a body. "Oh…looks like the medical examiner needs a medical examiner," he hopped down, crouching beside the body, "she has something in her hand. I don't wanna disturb the crime scene, but we need to see what it is."

"Need to see—OMG!" M'gann gasped covering her mouth with her hands.

"M'gann, get whelmed," Onyx hissed. "Work now, panic after."

The redheaded girl nodded shakily raising her hand, "How's this?"

The body levitated off the floor, and the trio could see the picture frame held in her hands. "Perfect. Looks like this photo was taken in the sixties," he grumbled looking over the image, "this might be her, but the sixties were a while ago…"

"They don't have to be," M'gann piped up. She stood up, shifting her form into the image of the woman, "Here's the woman in the picture," she aged herself, "and here's the woman on the floor. They have the same musculo-skeletal structure. She's definitely the woman in the picture."

"Guess that answers that question," Onyx muttered.

Robin began typing on his glove-screen, "I'll run facial recognition software on the rest. It could take a while. But I should be able to generate a list of names to go with Mason's.

-.-

**Honolulu, 19:06HST**

"Thank you again for meeting with us," Kaldur said as he, Artemis, and Skylar (with a glamour charm) sat down across from a woman and a military officer.

"I'm only here for my sister Peggy's sake," the brother grumbled taking his seat. "Nate Adams is not a topic to ever choose to discuss."

"Randy!" Peggy hissed punching her brother's arm. "You're talking about our father!"

Rubbing his arm, Randy tossed a glare at his sister, "Wade Eiling is our father. He raised us. Adams gave up any parental rights the day he betrayed our country and murdered her superior officer!"

"Our mother never thought he was guilty! And I don't believe it either."

Randy rolled his eyes, "I love you sis, but your opinion doesn't count. Dad died in prison before you were born."

"Ha! You just called him dad!"

-.-

"Well that was useless," Skylar grumbled as they walked along the beach, the waves lapping at their feet.

"Yeah," Artemis agreed, "Randy was…intense, but at least he was realistic. Biology hardly guarantees parental skills or even basic honesty. Nathaniel Adams may be guilty as charged. Right Kaldur?" Getting no response, the two girls looked at their teammate. "Kaldur?"

"Apologies Artemis, Skylar. My thoughts were of Atlantis with my mother—Sha'lain'a—she's a native of the Atlantean city-state of Shayeris; my father, Calvin Durham, is a surface-worlder like you two. He was genetically altered by Black Manta to infiltrate Atlantis. He did, but his love for my mother caused him to switch sides."

"Your dad worked for Black Manta?!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Dude," Skylar said putting her hands on her hips, "your family's all assassins and I was a villain, people can change. So maybe we need to wait for all the facts before rushing to judgement

-.-

**Annapolis, January 16 00:32EDT**

_"I know my grasp on Earth history is based largely on sitcoms, but why would a North Vietnamese General be in a 1968 photo with US personnel?"_ M'gann questioned as she, Onyx and Robin crouched behind some foliage observing a large house from below.

_"Good question,"_ Robin agreed pulling up his data, "_This General Trang was the first person my facial recognition software IDed."_

_"But that doesn't explain why he's here, in the states with a mansion,"_ Onyx pointed out.

_"Yeah, that takes money and connections."_

_"Two things participating in an illegal smuggling ring could provide,"_ Wally said as he, Conner, Rocket, and Zatanna joined them.

_"So Adams was right!"_

_"Onyx, you seeing this?"_ Conner asked.

Tossing a quick glance to his teammate, Onyx switched to thermal following his gaze. _"Shit!"_

_"What?"_

_"Trang's not alone in there,"_ Superboy informed.

_"Yeah," _Onyx confirmed, _"looks like a samurai. Rob wasn't Mason killed by a sword?"_

_"That's right, which means we probably just found the culprit."_

_"Then what are we waiting for?!"_

_"Let's get him!"_

_"No," _Robin interrupted, _"remember, this is a covert op. We need to keep to the shadows. We don't take the offensive. Like in Captain Atom's lecture."_

_"You were actually listening to that?"_ Rocket questioned. _"Look, I think we have all the intel we need. Why don't we just grab this guy and interrogate him?"_

_"Because it's a covert op,"_ Zatanna reminded. _"Besides, we still don't know who's in charge or if Adams really was framed."_

_"I'll go check it out,"_ Miss Martian volunteered. Pulling up her hood, she went into camouflage mode and flew up towards the mansion.

"I know why you're here," she heard as she approached the balcony door, "I still have my sources. I know about Mason, I know about your work. I am disappointed Rako. I have protected you since you were a child; have you no loyalty?"

"I do," a new, slightly gruff voice spoke, "just not to you." M'gann gasped as she saw the man raise his sword. Thrusting out her hand, she used her telekinesis to rip it from his grip as the samurai turned to face her. "A new security system General? Most impressive." He threw out an arm, slapping M'gann across the face and knocking her to the floor where her hood fell off, revealing her. "Too bad I'll have to dismantle it."

**A/N: Hey y'all, still working on the story. If it wasn't obvious, this is from the Young Justice Comic series, which I also don't own. I figured it'd be fun to try adding these to the story as well (obviously out of order for the cannon times but whatever). Anyways, let me know what y'all think and I'll see y'all in the next chapter.**


	36. Case Closed

Chapter 35

**A/N: hey guys, welcome back for the next chapter! Remember, I just own my OCs, that's it. YJ & JPS don't belong to me.**

**/comms/**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Annopolis January 16, 00:38EDT**

"A new security system General? Most impressive." The samurai threw out an arm, slapping M'gann across the face and knocking her to the floor where her hood fell off, revealing her. "Too bad I'll have to dismantle it."

"NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!" Conner snarled bursting through the wall. Lunging at the samurai, the man growled, swinging his blade across Superboy's chest. Stumbling back, the clone pressed a hand up to the wound, hissing as he felt something wet and sticky trickling over his fingers and soaking into his shirt. "I'm…I'm bleeding?"

_"Superboy! You're cut!"_

_"What?! But I thought Kryptonians can't be cut?!"_

_"I'm going in."_

Kid Flash sprinted forwards, leaping through the hole Conner made in the wall. He flipped in the air, vaulting off the samurai and causing him to stumble. The armored warrior turned towards the speedster, sword raised.

"Llup sih anatak tuo fo sih sdnah!"

The samurai looked up as his sword was pulled out of his grip. Spinning on his heel, he hurled several throwing stars in the direction of Zatanna as Robin tackled the witch aside.

Flying in, Onyx snatched the warrior's katana out of the air. Leaping at the attacker stomping towards M'gann, he swung down. Only his attack didn't go the way he planned. A hand reached out, grabbing the blade and Onyx gave a startled cry as it electrocuted him. A fist hit his jaw and he was slammed back into Conner and Wally.

"Ow."

"Come guys, get it together. Let's take him!"

They all lunged forwards and were barely saved by Raquel from something falling towards them. Letting the heroine lower he shield, Conner ripped the offending object aside revealing a doorway that was hidden by a tapestry that'd been previously been hanging there.

"We were caught off guard by a blanket," Wally grumbled. "This is so embarrassing, almost a comedy."

"It would be," Robin said standing in the door, "if Trang's corpse didn't scream tragedy."

-.-

**Metropilis, 01:45EDT**

"Kids today. They stay out til all hours and for what? So they can ignore each other in my diner!" Bibbo grumbled serving another customer as he glared at the group of ten teens on their phones.

_"Has everyone downloaded the annotated photo we found in the dead woman's hand?"_ Robin asked.

_"Yes."_

_"Yep."_

_"Yeah."_

_"Check."_

_"Superboy?"_ M'gann asked looking to her boyfriend.

_"What? Oh, yeah. Got it."_

_"Is it your wound? Does it still hurt?"_

_"Sorry I couldn't do better, healing magic is something I'm still working on," _Zatana apologized.

Conner gave her a wave of his hand, _"It's fine. It's just a scratch, move on."_

Onyx and Skylar looked at each other then back at their teammate. _"Really? Dude, I know my wounds,"_ Onyx stated, _"that was more than a scratch. You're just lucky it didn't go any deeper."_

_"Anyways,"_ Robin interrupted, _"facial recognition software's IDed almost everyone in the photo, which we think was taken in 1968. The same year Adams was charged with murder."_

_"The only players not in the pic are Adams and General Eiling, whom sentenced Adams to life in prison, where he died and after which he married Adams' wife and raised his two kids."_

_"This boy…"_ M'gann spoke up zooming in on one figure in the photo, _"could he be the assassin? The one Trang called Rako?"_

_"He did say he raised him since he was a child,"_ Zatanna reminded.

_"But didn't he say he was loyal to someone else?"_ Raquel asked. _"Cause it didn't seem like he was too loyal to Trang back their."_

_"No kidding,"_ Artemis agreed. _"This photo's looking more and more like a hit list."_

_"And I can bet on who's in charge of it,"_ Conner said, _"our missing CIA Agent Alec Rois."_

Onyx nodded, pulling up his stats, _"Considering his resume has things like brainwashing_," he growled a little at that, "_I can take a guess on who Rako's working for."_

_"And somehow Rois and Rako found out we were investigating the Adams case and decided to tie up loose ends."_

_"Which means either Sgt Polk or Adams' old friend Yarrow are next," _Zatanna frowned and Wally nodded,

_"Yeah, if that's the case it's kinda our fault…"_

_"Doesn't matter right now. Yo Kaldur, what's our next move?"_

All eyes turned to their leader as he looked up from his own phone. "We split up. Half of us go investigate Polk here in Metropolis, the other half heads to Vegas to protect Yarrow."

-.-

**Las Vegas, 00:PDT**

"Not too fancy, looks like Yarrow wasn't on the take like the others," Robin muttered as he, Conner, Wally, Onyx, Skylar crouched in the bushes near the former officer's house.

"I knew I liked the guy. We should get in there. Warn him he's in danger."

"Bad idea," Skylar spoke up. "We don't even know if he's on the list. If he's tipped off, then Rako and Rois will know we're on their trail and then they'll get rid of him. He's a liability."

The dark night suddenly became bright as an explosion knocked them on their backs. Scrambling to his feet, Wally began racing towards the house, "Yarrow was inside!" The speedster sprinted around the house, creating a vortex to pull air away from the fire, smothering it into dull embers.

"Fast work KF!" Robin called.

"Not fast enough," the redhead panted. "Yarrow's dead."

"You sure?"

"Judging from the smell, yes," Onyx answered. "Sure it's Yarrow? I don't know his scent."

Wally nodded, "Yeah. Recognized the tattoo."

"Damn!" Remix cursed.

"Here's what I don't get," Superboy spoke up, "Rako's MO was sword and shuriken."

"But Rois' was demolitions," Robin reminded. "Confirming that they're working together on the hit list."

"Let's hope the others had better luck than we did, otherwise I doubt we're cracking this case."

"They didn't have better luck," Wally sighed running a hand through his hair.

"Shit."

-.-

**St. George, 03:26MDT**

_"This the place?"_

_"According to the intel, yeah,"_ Robin nodded, putting his holoscreen away. "_Onyx, you got anything?"_

The hybrid sniffed the air, filtering through the scents of rust and decay. _"Yeah. Rako's in there, along with two other people, I don't know who though."_

Artemis sighed as they all began walking into the building, "Let's just get this over with."

"I agree."

Grabbing their weapons, the team turned to see Rako on their right, Rois to their left. "You're Rako, General Trang's protégé all grown up to become his murderer," Rocket greeted.

"Which means you must be CIA Agent Alec Rois," Artemis said.

"Alec Rois is dead."

"Good thing my mace is meant to help beat the shit outta spirits," Remix muttered twirling her weapon with a smirk.

"That just leaves the big boss," Robin said and they looked up, "Henry Yarrow."

The man on the platform above chuckled, "You don't seem surprised. Did you also guess you walked right into a trap?"

"It wasn't hard," Kid Flash deadpanned. "Though it's not like it's much considering there's ten on three."

"After forty years in the Adams game kid, let me give ya a little tip: quality trumps quantity," Henry smiled, "unless you're talking explosives. My friend there's holding a dead man's switch. If anything makes him unhappy, or causes him to let go, this whole hangar goes BOOM! Keep that in mind boys. I know that S and W, and can guess what they mean. Your little pals aren't invulnerable even if you two are."

Rako sneered, "Superbrat? Invulnerable? My sword proved otherwise, though I haven't had the chance to test it on Wonder Boy."

Onyx snickered, pulling a broadsword off his back and shifting into a fighting stance, "You'd have to beat me first."

"Rako!" Yarrow snapped as the samurai took a step forwards. "Remember, your sword was forged from X-ionizer. It could cut the real Superman."

"Aw, so he didn't prove anything at all," Onyx taunted.

"No sword stands against mine!"

Onyx smirked, "We'll see."

"Perhaps we can return to the matter at hand," Aqualad spoke up.

"Apologies, old men are so easily distract—wait a minute!" Henry gripped the railing with white knuckles. "Where's that flippin' Boy Wonder?!"

"Flippin' your way now!" Robin exclaimed springing from the shadows, kicking the man in the face. Yarrow fell back, a gun falling out from his shirt.

"Morfsnart s'Worray nug otni a ekans!" Zatanna cast. The pistol transformed causing the man to scramble back as the creature slithered towards him. Yarrow screamed as it leapt at him, wrapping around his body. "Eit mih pu!"

"ROIS! BLOW THIS POPSICLE STAND!" Yarrow shouted.

"GAG MIH!"

"I'M TRYING!" he cried out. "SOMETHING'S HOLDING DOWN MY THUMB!"

Artemis fired an arrow, and it exploded into a hardening polymer, encasing the Agent's arm. "GOT HIM!"

"NO!"

"YES!" Kid Flash disagreed flipping and vaulting off the man's chest.

Sparks flew off two blades as they collided violently, two different stream of electricity firing against each other as Nightmare and Rako stood off. "Not used to having an opponent who wan withstand a little lightning?"

"I have trained to defeat men, you shall lose against me child!"

"Please," Onyx scoffed, spinning around and using his tail to swipe Rako's legs out from under him. Grabbing his opponent's sword, the boy flew into the air. "AQUALAD!"

The samurai-assassin barely had time to react before a torrent of electrified water slammed into his face. Remix raced forwards, swinging her mace and sending him flying into one of Rocket's bubbles, containing him within.

"Man, this would've been a lot faster if they were on one side of the country," Rocket muttered lowering her containment bubble with the three prisoners.

"No kidding."

-.-

**Mt. Justice, 11:57EDT**

"Adams recovered evidence of a weapons smuggling ring, he brought intel of a weapons drop to his superior officer, General Lemar. Unfortunately Lemar was part of the smuggling operation and saw Adams' intel as an opportunity," M'gann informed. "He could use it to get rid of Adams and the head of the operation Henry Yarrow."

"Yarrow was only a lieutenant so taking orders from him didn't sit will with Lemar," Skylar added on. "So he tipped off their North Vietnamese contact General Trang. And Yarrow had just been told Trang wasn't supposed to go to the drop. In reality, Trang and Lemar agreed to ambush Yarrow's squad instead."

"All of them were meant to die, including Yarrow. He just didn't count on Adams saving both himself and Yarrow."

"Which left our dear lieutenant with two problems," Rocket counted on her fingers, "His incorruptible buddy Nate who knew Lemar was part of the ring; and Lemar himself, who tried to stage a coup."

"So to handle it he simply pitted them against each other. Probably wasn't too hard for him to rile Adams up against the General, and he probably had no trouble drugging his pal's drink either," Skylar said. "Allowing him to send Adams on his merry way to confront Lemar."

"The drug made sure Nate wouldn't remember," Robin added, "which allowed Polk to handle Lemar and frame Adams."

"And the trial that followed," Wally scoffed, "that was a joke. Almost everyone was involved in the ring; Yarrow, Mason, Polk, Blankly, all of them."

"What about Eiling? The judge?" Captain Atom questioned.

"He wasn't in on the conspiracy," Kaldur responded, "as far as we can tell he believed Adams was guilty."

"Did his psychic confession confirm it?"

"Basically," she nodded.

"As for the body in Yarrow's house, turns out it was Polk," Onyx spoke up. "They had the same tattoo, and I didn't know the difference between their scents since I hadn't met them. When the others searched Polk's place it was set up to make them think he was on the lamb."

"And when we found the intel among the debris tipping us to St. George's airfield, we knew it was a set up," Conner rolled his eyes.

"I'm impressed, you did good work."

"Too bad we were too late for Adams."

"But not to late for his kids," Captain Atom reassured. "Go tell them what kinda man their father really was."

-.-

**Honolulu, 09:16HST**

"Seems I misjudged you. Guess I really wanted to believe you were guilty, Captain Adams," Eiling spoke as he, Captain Atom, and Nate Adams sat in a dark car as the three young heroes in disguise spoke to Nate's kids.

The silver hero chuckled, "Yeah, well, I really wanted to believe you were dirty Eiling. Guess that makes us even then. Nate, now that your name's been cleared, let me go reintroduce you to your kids.

-.-

**D.C January 17, 00:00EDT**

"Took ya long enough," Eiling grumbled as a man entered his office. "Escaping from a jail in St. George Utah shouldn't be that hard for you Alec."

The former CIA agent shrugged, "Escaping was easy, but you should try hiding a seven-foot Cambodian sometime. How'd it go on your end?"

Eiling snofted, leaning back in his chair and lighting a cigar, "Yarrow took the fall for everything; the smuggling ring in '68, the murders this week."

Rois chuckled, "So no one suspects _you_ were Yarrow's boss the whole time? The only reason you weren't in the picture is cause you took it?"

"You kidding," he snickered, "Captain Atom's my new best friend. Which should serve us well in the days ahead."

Rois laughed, "Wicked Wade. Very wicked indeed."


	37. Campfire Stories

Chapter 36

**A/N: hey y'all! Back for another chapter! Glad to see y'all again and hear y'all's reviews. Once again, is just own my OCs and the story, nothing else is mine (sadly).**

**/comms/**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Isla Sorna, January 25, 13:45HDT**

Onyx landed in a clearing he used to sunbathe when he was with the pack. Looking around at the familiar foliage, he felt…strange, almost out of place back on the island he used to call home. It seemed like so long ago that he was here hunting with the pack.

Movement came from his right and he glanced over his shoulder at his mother as she landed just behind him. "You sure about this?"

He nodded, "They need to know what happened to me and know I'm alright. Besides, if this goes well maybe we can set up a new base or something here."

Diana smiled slightly at her son's optimism. "We'll see," she said glancing to the foliage uncertainly, "I doubt your pack will be so welcoming of the people who took you away from them."

"Then I'll just have to make them understand what really happened," he smirked, crossing his arms confidently.

Wonder Woman shook her head, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, don't come crying to me if they don't believe you."

Onyx rolled his eyes before turning towards the brush and releasing a loud screech. He went quiet after a moment, and Diana could see his jaw twitch every now and then as he listened. After a minute, she heard a faint cry from further in the distance and saw her son's tail immediately go still and flick upwards. Onyx released a few short, but loud, barks.

He turned away from the jungle, practically bouncing as he joined her. "The pack's on its way!"

Leaning against a tree, the Amazon woman smiled, "Seems like you're happy to see them?"

Gold eyes looked to her and a small bit of guilt bloomed. "Sorry," he mumbled looking down, finding his shoes to suddenly be fascinating. "It's just…"

Resting a hand on his head, she ruffled his hair, pulling him close. "I know, you miss them. They're your family as much as we are and I'm sorry it's taken us this long to come see them again."

"It's ok, I know you did your best—"

Diana cut him off, "No Onyx, it's not ok. It shouldn't have taken us this long to come back here. This was your home, and I should've known you would've missed it and the family you had here. Why didn't you tell me you wanted to visit sooner?"

Onyx glanced away, chewing in the inside of his cheek. "I…I thought…"

"You thought what sweetie?"

He shrunk in on himself, pressing closer to her, "I thought you'd think I wanted to leave."

"Never," she reassured. "You have every right to miss this place just like I miss Themiscyra at times. And you know you're welcome to come here whenever you want. Remember, I could never get mad at you for wanting to visit this place, it was your home."

"Thanks Mom," he replied, pulling back looking slightly more at ease than he'd been before.

Several loud barks came from the forest and the pair stepped back, watching the foliage as it began to rustle. A grey and red dappled muzzle began to appear from the brush as Titania slowly emerged, sniffing the air. Amber eyes landed on them and the alpha female stopped in her tracks, clearly looking both of them over. **"Nightmare?"**

The young hybrid stepped forwards, wearing a nervous smile, **"Hi Mama."**

The pack clearly stood in shock, obviously caught of guard by the sight of their missing packmate. Releasing a breath through her nose, Titania stepped forwards, leaving the brush before stopping about a meter before the hatchling she adopted all those moons ago. **"You're alive."**

Onyx looked down sheepishly at that, guilt constricting his chest. **"I'm sorry for not coming back sooner Mama,"** he apologized brushing the side of her jaw with his own cheek. **"At lot has happened since I…disappeared."**

There was a growl from the alpha and he flinched as he felt teeth scrape against the crook between his neck and shoulder. **"I thought you were dead!" **she hissed, pressing her muzzle against his head. **"We searched the island for weeks since those humans took you."**

**"And I'm sorry for that,"** he apologized once again pulling back and averting his eyes. **"But I'm here now."**

**"Yes,"** Titania snorted, her gaze flickering behind him as she glared, baring her fangs, **"and I see you've brought one of your kidnappers."**

Gold eyes widened, and he stepped between his mothers. **"Alpha no! She saved me from the ones who took me,"** he defended. Taking a breath, he looked his adoptive mother in the eye, his heart twisting. How was he supposed to tell her that this was his biological mother? He loved Diana, but Titania was his mother too, she helped raise him when no one else did.

**"Explain."**

Glancing back at Diana, she gave him a soft smile before taking a breath to calm himself down, **"She's my birth mom. We were…separated when I was a hatchling, and we found each other again,"** he explained cautiously, trying to make it simple enough for his reptilian brethren to understand. With a purr, he stretched his neck out again, brushing his nose against the alpha's muzzle, **"Which would've never happened without you Mama."**

Amber eyes regarded him for a moment, and Onyx sighed as Titania licked his cheek; accepting his explanation. He knew she would've wanted the same had her own hatchling been lost. **"I'm glad for you my Strange Hatchling. When will you be returning?"**

**"Well…I won't be returning permanently,"** Nightmare hesitantly began, wincing as he saw anger flash in the alpha's eyes. **"Mama, I'm of both worlds. The raptor, and the human. I can't just remain in one."** The alpha looked slightly unhappy by that; pack stuck together. **"But, I do promise to visit more, maybe even with my human pack more in our nest. They can hunt."**

She had to admit, her strange hatchling was right, he never truly could live completely in both worlds. He was human just as he was raptor; each side had demands of him. So if a few adjustments to the pack were needed to make this life easier, then the pack would gladly help it's strangest member. It was what they did.

The alpha female snorted, of course if she was going to accept humans then they'd need to know how to hunt. They weren't going to be having useless mouths to feed.

-.-

**17:45HDT**

"Hey guys!" Onyx waved as the Bioship landed on the roof on the former InGen complex now serving as the raptor's nest.

"Hey Onyx," Wally greeted as they got off the ship, "man, feels weird being back here."

"Tell me about it," Onyx replied, crossing his arms and looking out of the island he used to call home. "Feels like a lifetime ago I was here with the pack."

"Feels like forever ago we were hunting you down all over the island," Robin chuckled.

"You still owe me for tossing me down that hill!" the speedster remembered.

"You tripped."

"Are you sure this is safe?" Raquel asked.

"There's no safer place on the island," Onyx reassured rubbing Blue's head as she and Indie examined the area. "Mom's here with us, my pack's here, and we're a group of overpowered teenagers. I think we'll be fine." Motioning with his hand, he waved his friends inside, he wanted them to meet his other family, "C'mon."

Bounding down the stairs, he led the way through his old nest, listening to his team's quiet murmurs and the distant calls of his pack members chattering. He entered the main nest, looking to see his mother sitting with the alpha. "Hi Mom, **hey Mama,"** he greeted, switching between human and raptor.

"Hey Onyx, your team here?" Diana greeted looking up from where she was gently playing with some of the hatchlings.

"We're right here Diana," Robin waved.

**"You sure they can hunt?"** Titania grumbled looking over the youngsters warily. Her gaze landed on the other three non-human creatures. The furry beast would be too obvious with it's fur color; but the blue raptor and the strange one, they looked useful. As for the humans…she would take her strange hatchling's word for it. Nightmare wasn't one to endanger the pack.

**"Yes Mama, I'm sure they can hunt. We've hunted many times together, successfully."**

The hatchlings, oblivious to their alpha's wariness, turned excitedly at the prospect of new packmates. **"PLAYMATES! PLAYMATES! PLAYMATES!" **they chittered bouncing at the feet of the young heroes.

"Aw, they're cute," M'gann smiled crouching down. Looking at their colorful scales, she thought of her own pet Rainbow, and a smile came to her face as she came up with an idea. Her skin color changed to Caucasian and scales appeared on her face, neck, and arms as a tail grew from her back, her clothes accommodating for the changes.

The hatchlings squeaked, darting behind their elder brother, before peeking back out. Grey was the first hatching to build up his nerve and he crept back out, nervously sniffing the stranger. **"Night! She looks like you!"** he chittered, his tail perking up and wagging as he heard his older brother chuckle.

**"I suppose she does."**

This prompted the many other hatchlings, to start asking questions, **"What does she really look like?"**

**"Can you change your color too Night?"**

**"Why was she green?"**

**"Does she speak raptor?"**

**"Can the others change their scales?"**

**"Why does one of them smell like fish?"**

**"Big brother! One of the girls has wings!" **

**"What's the white thing?"**

**"Can I bite the sunshine hair? It looks fun to swing on?"**

Onyx laughed nervously at the flurry of questions. He forgot how inquisitive the little hatchlings could be. Fortunately, he was saved by Zatanna. "I nommus a der llab!"

A bright red ball landed in the middle of the floor, bouncing up and down. Almost immediately, all the hatchlings were on the strange object, chasing it around the room. Before long, Wolf, Indie, Blue, several of the adults, Conner, Roquel, Onyx, Skylar, Robin, and Wally joined the game with the new toy.

"They're energetic," Artemis chuckled taking a seat watching the pack play. She had to admit, it was weird, in all the stories she'd heard about the raptors she'd had an image of these violent, bloodthirsty monsters. Yet, here she was sitting among them, watching them play.

"They're cute," M'gann said sitting next to her.

"Gosh, I wish I could take one home," Zatanna cooed, watching the little hatchling stumble over their own legs.

"I admit, it is nice not being on the end of the raptor's targets," Kaldur agreed plopping next to them rubbing the head of one of the other raptors, earning a deep rumble from the creature and a friendly lick. "It is hard to believe we once fought this pack, and now we sit among them as friends."

"That's probably only cause we had one of their own vouching for us," Artemis reminded pointing to their resident raptor hybrid before grimacing as Conner tackled him. She ended up repressing a snort a second later as they were covered in excited hatchlings.

"True, otherwise they probably would've eaten us," M'gann winced thinking of their last, less than peaceful, trip to Sorna, "especially after the last time we were here."

"Don't remind me," Kaldur huffed. A snout pressed against his neck, causing the Atlantean to jump. Glancing to his left, he saw one of the raptors sniffing at him, or, more importantly, his gills. A tongue came out, causing Kaldur to leap out of his seat at the odd sensation as it brushed against his gill. Looking back at the creature, he could almost swear it looked amused. Said raptor was then tackled playfully my Indie and Wolf a moment later, causing the girls to scramble out of the way as they chased each other around.

"You kids alright?" Diana chuckled.

"Yeah," Artemis laughed sharing a smile with her teammates. Maybe Sorna wasn't as bad as they initially thought.

-.-

**21:32HDT**

"I think they actually wore Wolf out for once," M'gann chuckled glancing at the canine as he sprawled on the floor, legs up in the air, tongue lolling from his mouth, and two hatchlings sitting on his chest.

"Someone had to," Conner huffed, looking over the piece of meat the hunters had brought back earlier from a hunt. Onyx and Diana had apparently been cooking it for a while; unfortunately, they refused to tell them what they were eating until they actually tried it.

"Man, this is really juicy chicken," Wally moaned around a huge mouthful.

"Dodo," Diana corrected watching the boy's eyes widen at the prospect of eating what'd once been a previous extinct species.

"I now understand your obsession," the speedster responded sharing a look with Onyx.

"Once we finish this I can't wait to bring out the stuff for smores!" M'gann grinned.

"Ooh! That sounds good."

Skylar meanwhile raised a confused brow, "What's a smore?"

"We'll show you soon Sky," Zatanna reassured.

"Well, at least we don't have to pretend to be homeless," Conner remarked. "Those tents seem pretty flimsy to me, I'd rather sleep in the raptor nest."

"Hope you don't mind cuddles," Onyx smirked teasingly. "Packs are very close."

"As long as they don't bite of scratch," M'gann smiled, happy to participate in this new Earth interaction. While it wasn't human, it certainly seemed interesting considering that the raptors appeared quite intelligent.

"Eh, we still have a while before that," Robin remarked leaning back, putting his hands behind his head. "You know, one of the best things about sitting around a campfire is telling stories."

"Oh! Kaldur, I'd love to hear how you became Aqualad!" M'gann immediately jumped on.

"I think he meant scary stories," Skylar commented.

"Who cares, this'll still be interesting," Raquel smirked leaning forwards.

"I suppose I could do that you don't think it'll be too boring?"

"Not at all, I'd love to hear it," M'gann said.

"Well, I grew up in the city of Shayeris, a city in Atlantis. You see, surface dwellers think Atlanteans are all the same, but our kingdom has many cities, many people, and many cultures" he began to explain.

"So basically here but underwater," Zatanna commented.

Kaldur nodded, giving a light chuckle in amusement at the statement. "I suppose so. Anyways, when I was twelve, I completed my education and began my mandatory service in the Atlantean military, which is a standard for all at that age," he stated after seeing a few horrified looks crossing their faces. "After a while I was transferred to the prestigious Conservatory of Sorcery in the Atlantean Capitol of Poseidonis. Queen Mera is the headmistress of the conservatory and wife of King Orin, Aquaman. It was a difficult time for me."

"Why?"

"It was difficult, as it would be for anyone at the age of fourteen I suppose, but it was also the time in my life where I met the friends that I know will be with me for a lifetime," he answered, before continuing on with his story. "Then came a horrible day when Poseidonis was attacked by Ocean Master. I cam remember it vividly as it was the day Aquaman nearly met his end. They fought for what seemed like hours, and their clashes seemed to sha'ke the very city to its foundations. And then, Ocean Master gained the upper hand and nearly defeated Aquaman—actually, Aquaman was defeated," he corrected. "Garth, a fellow student, and I intervened on the King's behalf. It was the only thing we could think of doing. The danger didn't occur to us because the only thing that mattered at the time was that our King was in trouble. It may have been one of the most foolish things Garth and I had ever done, as we nearly met our own end."

"So did you die?" Robin interrupted a teasing smile forming on his face before he yelped as a small stick hit him in the back of his head.

"No," Kaldur deadpanned, rolling his eyes. "However, Garth and I quickly realized that we had no hope of defeating him whatsoever. But the time we spent engaged in battle against Ocean Master was enough for our king to recover. And that was all he needed as Aquaman trumphed over Ocean Master, driving him away from the city and saving us all!"

"So how does this lead to you becoming Aqualad?" Conner questioned.

"Aquaman's a being of two worlds. On the surface, he fights for justice for all beings; under the sea, he's a leader to many. Both roles carry the weights to responsibilities, overwhelming responsibilities only the best of men can carry for so long. But even Aquaman can't do it forever. Realizing that on the surface that both Batman and Green Arrow had taken on apprentices that could one day take over their respective mantles, King Orin had been contemplating the same idea," he started again, intending on giving them the answer on how the rest of the story related to his status as Aquaman's protégé. "With this in mind, he approached both Garth and I with the possibility of becoming his proteges. I must admit, the prospect intrigued me immediately as I had never been to the surface world and I am the to admit that I'm a bit of an adventurer. Many is the day in class that I'd dream of visiting distant oceans and one day, even the surface world. Both Garth and I seriously considered the King's offer. My friend ultimately chose to continue his studies at the Conservatory. For me, however, the chance to visit the surface word was a dream come true. So, at the age of fourteen, I became Aqualad. I miss my friends Garth and Tula, but the chance to do work with my mentor and king was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I like to think the work I'm doing makes a difference. The rest of the story you know. Aquaman brought me to the surface world, and here I am with all of you."

"Wow, so you wanted to be Aqualad?" M'gann asked.

"Yes, the chance came and I could think of no other path."

"Man I don't blame you, it took me forever to convince Icon to start heroing!" Raquel exclaimed. "I would've killed for that chance!"

"So how did you get started Raquel?" Diana spoke up, leaning forwards in interest at hearing how one of the newest heroines got started.

"Well," she leaned back rubbing the back of her head nervously, "you see, it was actually you guys that inspired me," she motioned to the team. "It may sound cliché, but I always wanted to make a difference in the world. And when I got my powers, I saw it as a chance. Though, Icon initially was completely against the idea. So, I started without him. I began with small things, robberies, muggings, those sort of things. And as I got more confident, I began going bigger. But my biggest day was when Joker's killer plants attacked! You see, I'd finally managed to convince Icon to try out being a hero, and that was the same day the plants attacked. So, we went out and spent the whole day rescuing people and fighting those things. It was exhausting, but so worth it. Anyways, from there we kept doing it till, ta-da, here we are!"

"Sounds wild," Zatanna chuckled.

"It was," she grinned. "Anyways, Sky, didn't you say you used to be a supervillain or something? What made you change sides?"

"Yeah, you did switch sides pretty quickly," M'gann remembered.

The redheaded girl's green eyes widened and she looked away, reaching out and scratching Blue. "I…I'd rather not talk about it."

Wally looked like he was about to ask again, when a shiver ran up his spine. Turning, he found Onyx glaring at him with a slight red tint to his eyes that hadn't been there earlier. The message was clear: don't push it. "Alright then," he said leaning back in his seat with a smirk, "let me tell you how I got started; it literally goes back a couple of generations, each generation of Flash started with a bang! Jay Garrick was in a freak lab accident; boom there it is! During the forties and fifties he was everywhere! The fastest man alive! Jay Garrick was the world's first Flash! Then one day this guy come along, a huge fan of the Flash. Wanting to know all about Jay Garrick—r"

"Wait, did he know his name?" Raquel interrupted sounding confused.

"Back then, secret identities were not as big of a concern as they are now," Diana spoke up. "Heroes were a lot more open with who they were. However, that meant it was easier for their enemies to find their weaknesses."

"Oh."

"Anyways," Wally drawled wanting to continue his story, "he contacts Jay and they spend hours talking about his adventures and the accident that turned him into the Flash. This guy goes so far as to re-create the accident that created the original! However, while Jay's was an accident, this one was set up in a lab, he wanted it to happen! Result? Still a big ass explosion, but lo and behold he becomes Speedy McSpeed-Speed himself! Now he's the Flash—well, not the original Flash, but the new Flash, the one we all know—and this time he's even faster than Flash—the old one—it gave him ever more speed! So check this! great minds think alike cause like Flash was a fan of the first Flash I was a fan of Flash—the second one not the first one. Though I did become a fan of Jay too after I got to know him, anyways, long story short, one day I was in my uncle's house and stumbled across his notebooks and got the shock of my life! That was the day I found out my uncle was the Flash! Once the shock wore off, I kept reading. He was keeping a journal of all the experiences and experiments, most importantly the one that turned him into the Flash—the second one not the first one."

"We get it already!"

"When I found that, I kept hinting to my uncle that he could _maybe_ use a partner. I tried to convince him; I mean, by this time Bats already had Rob and Green Arrow had Speedy. This was a no brainer!" he grinned. "I've gotta admit, Flash was a bit resistant at first…"

"Does this sound confusing to anyone else?" Conner muttered.

"Just let me finish!" Wally scolded tossing a half-hearted glare. "So, having seen the journal, I tried to re-create the experiment with my own chemistry set. And what do you know, I was able to do it!"

"It actually worked?" Kaldur asked looking surprised.

At the question, the redhead grimaced, "Well…not really at first. It kinda landed me in the hospital."

"Of course it did," Artemis muttered.

"But, a couple of weeks later I was off and running!" he smiled. "I couldn't wait to show my uncle! When he saw I had powers how could he not want me as his partner?!"

Onyx smirked playfully, "I can give a few reasons." Artemis and Robin snickered at the jab and Diana cuffed the back of her son's head.

Wally, meanwhile ignored his comrade's commentary, "You guys should've seen his face when I showed him! This time he jumped at the chance to have a partner. Flash couldn't wait to show the world! He was beyond ecstatic and couldn't contain his excitement. It was the greatest day in the history of the world! Why do you ask?"

"For the record we didn't."

"That's that day the world got Kid Flash! You are welcome."

"We're all thrilled you're so speed capable," Robin said rolling his eyes behind his glasses.

"What's the matter? Jealous?"

"Yeah right, of you?"

"Robin, how'd you get started?" M'gann asked taking a bite of a smore.

"HA!" Wally laughed. "Are you kidding? Bats won't even let him tell us his real name! Supey could probably give a better origin story!"

"You already told me his, you rescued him from Cadmus right?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Y'all know how I got started," Onyx smirked, "y'all were there."

"Technically it started here," Conner remarked.

"Wait? Here?" Zatanna asked.

"Yeah, this is where I lived before the Team found me," Onyx nodded looking around the nest. "I called this place home ever since I could remember."

"Not like we could forget," the other hybrid spoke up. "This is where they…made us. Weaponized us. At least you managed to escape," she murmured looking out a window, "the rest of us weren't so lucky. Course, the rest of us were more cooperative than you were."

"True."

"What does that mean?" Wally questioned.

"Let's just say Onyx was more…temperamental," she said shrugging as her boyfriend tossed her a glare.

"More like those scientists were all assholes," he growled digging his claws into the ground as they all saw his eyes flash scarlet for a moment. "They deserved what they got. They're just lucky I didn't do worse."

"True," she agreed.

The group went quiet, feeling some guilt run through them. How could they not? They all had a good idea what happened to their friends in the hands of the Light.

Trying to lighten the mood, Wally turned to M'gann, "Hey, you haven't told us your story."

Blinking in surprise at the change of subject, "Oh…well, you did tell all've your stories. I guess, well, I'm from Mars—ugh! Hello Megan!" she facepalmed. "You guys already knew that. Anyways, all Martians live in underground cities cause the surface is uninhabitable. Our families are very intertwined. As you already know, we communicate telepathy, it helps large families maintain a sense of community and stay close."

"Large? How big's your family?"

"Martian families are quite large. I have twelve sisters and seventeen brothers!" she answered and Wally choked on his smore. "And my extended family I have over three hundred cousins!"

This time coughing could be heard from Onyx, Skylar, and several of the others as they tried to avoid choking.

"Most Martians looked very similar, mostly green like Uncle J'ohn, but there are others with…differences," she began. "There're also Martians that're red and white, like me."

"But they don't treat the white Martians as equals right?" Artemis recalled.

M'gann nodded sadly, "Yeah. My parents were both green, and I was raised in what you call a liberal house; my family has no issues with White Martians. Others…aren't as tolerant. And their treatment of the White Martians was horrible…"

"So, how'd you come to Earth?" Raquel inquired.

"Well, whenever Uncle J'ohn would come to Mars he'd show us his exploits on Earth with the Justice League," she began. "He grew to be a beacon of hope and stood for what our society could achieve. He became the most famous Martian in our history! On his last return to Mars it was declared a day of planetwide day of celebration. However, he did come back with a specific purpose in mind. Having learned about all of you—Robin, Aqualad, KF, and Speedy—he decided it was time to introduce a younger Martian hero to Earth. So, he declared he'd hold a competition to find the next Martian champion that'd be returning with him to join the heroes of Earth! Like over half the Martian population, I decided to enter the contest. However, I was coming to Earth. The competition was fierce and dangerous, as well as exciting and consumed and touched the lives of every Martian on the planet. At first, my uncle didn't seem to want me to enter the competition. I thought it was just cause he knew that our adevntures could be life-threatening and dangerous. But I didn't let that stop me! From everything I'd heard of Earth till that point, I knew I had to go there! I was determined to win! And I did it! I won the competition!" She jumped from her seat, floating in the air with her arms thrown up, causing several members of the raptor pack to release startled cries. "My heart soared! I was coming to Earth! This was the most exciting day of my life! And now I'm here will all of you! Part of the Team! I love it!"

"And we're glad to have you here M'gann," Kaldur smiled.

"Well, I don't know about you," Robin yawned. "But I think I've had one smore too many. I'm ready to hit that sack."

"You can say that again," Raquel agreed.

Onyx nodded, stretching out before crawling over and plopping down beside his mothers and the rest of the pack. Following his lead, the rest of the team lied among the raptors, officially accepted into the pack.

**A/N: hey guys, I figured this'd be a fun little filler chapter. Hope y'all enjoyed it. I'll see y'all next time!**


	38. Below the Surface

Chapter 37

**A/N: hey y'all, back for the next chapter! Glad to see y'all again. Anyways, I just own my OCs, YJ & JPS aren't mine.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**January 29, Mt. Justice 19:12EDT**

"You sure you don't wanna join us?" Artemis asked as she stood with Robin, Wally, Raquel, and Zatanna.

"Wish I could, but Mom and Dad want to meet up with me for training and patrol."

"I forgot my glamour," Onyx shrugged.

"I was just kinda wanting to chill out for the evening," Conner said rubbing the back of his head and M'gann nodded.

"Yeah! I have a new recipe I wanna try!" she smiled nervously. "And…horror movies…not exactly my thing."

"That's fine, they're not for everyone," Artemis shrugged.

"What about you Kaldur?" Robin asked. "You coming?"

"No, I was about to go home myself," he replied. "I wish you all well while you're out."

"Thanks bro," Robin waved as the tubes began to activate.

"Recognized: Robin—B01, Kid Flash—B02, Artemis—B07, Zatanna—B09, Rocket—B11, Remix—B10."

As the group Zetaed away, Kaldur turned to look at his remaining teammates. "I am returning to Atlantis now, and was wondering if you three would care to accompany me?"

"We'd love to!" M'gann said jumping in place before sheepishly smiling. "I mean—I'd love to—"

"Thought you just went?" Conner remarked.

"Yes, but I need—I want—to return more often," Kaldur replied.

"So why wait to ask till after the others left?" Conner asked tilting his head.

"In all honesty, our friends would not do well with the extreme pressure at the bottom of the ocean. It seemed kinder not to make the offer in their presence."

"Who cares! They're going to see a movie! Let's go!" Onyx grinned.

"Actually," M'gann smiled, "I thought we could take the scenic route."

-.-

**Shayeris, January 30, 01:31UTC**

"Welcome to my birthplace, the Atlantean city-state of Shayeris."

"WOW!" Onyx grinned, his tail swinging up as he took in the city.

"It's spectacular!" M'gann gasped standing up and rushing to the window with the rest of them.

"Yeah it is," Conner smiled before raising a brow as he looked at his girlfriend. "Are…are you shorter?"

"It's the pressure," she answered, "even the Bioship's smaller at this depth."

"I hope you are experiencing no discomfort—" Kaldur began looking worried.

"I'm fine, honest," she reassured.

"Good, I have stocked the hold with more appropriate attire and rebreathers."

"None for me, thanks," she smiled as her clothes changed to a suit more like Kaldur's and gills appeared in her neck.

"Gills, nice touch," Conner smiled before yelping as Onyx grabbed his arm.

"Come on! I wanna explore!"

-.-

"This is my parents' home," Kaldur said leading his friends inside where a woman with flowing blonde hair in a green two-piece dress.

"Kaldur! You look so thin!" the woman gushed.

"Mother please," he flushed.

"Sha'lain'a," a man gently chided swimming over, "let the boy breathe."

Laughing lightly, Kaldur swam back and motioned to his teammates, "My friends, these are my parents: Sha'lain'a and Calven Durham. Mother, Father, meet Superboy, Miss Martian and Nightmare."

"Please call me M'gann," the Martian girl smiled.

"You speak Atlantean!" Kaldur's mother admired.

"Not really," M'gann blushed, "my psychic abilities enable me to translate and communicate."

"The g-gnomes programmed me to speak Atlantean."

"The rest of the Amazons were very unhappy when they realized I didn't know every single language on Earth," Onyx groaned running his hands through his hair as he remembered the torturous weeks he'd spent learning so many languages. Granted his time in the lab at least gave him the basic understanding of many languages; but living alone on an island for three years wasn't exactly known for helping one improve skills in language.

"I understand—yet have no idea what that means," his mother smiled as Calvin took Kaldur aside.

"Son, are you planning to visit Poseidonis this trip?"

"First thing in the morning."

Then be careful, there have been…rumors circulating that there's trouble brewing in the capital."

-.-

**Poseidonis, 08:06UTC**

"Kaldur'ahm, it is an honor to finally meet your friends and teammates."

"The honor is all ours Queen Mera," M'gann said giving the queen a bow. "I lived my whole life on Mars without ever meeting a member of the royal family."

"Mars has a royal family?" Onyx muttered.

"There is a certain wisdom in inaccessibility," a new voice spoke and they turned to see a dark-haired man swimming towards them, "when the Queen carries the heir to the throne, whom is due any day."

Mera sighed, "Allow me to introduce Prince Orm, my overly protective brother-in-law."

"How can I be anything else while my brother is off playing Aquaman," he grumbled.

"King Orin's work with the Justice League is anything but a game My Prince," Kaldur reminded, his voice holding a slightly biting edge,

"Of course," he said resting a hand on his shoulder, "still, I am glad you and your fellow Champions are here Kaldur'ahm. There have been reports of…unrest, originating at the conservatory of sorcery."

-.-

"M'gann, Conner, Onyx, these are some of my former classmates," Kaldur began to introduce, "Ronal, Blubber, Lori Lemaris, La'gaan, and Nanaue Sha'ark."

"That's King Sha'ark chum, and don't you forget it!"

"You're all so different!" M'gann admired.

"You speak as we aren't different," Onyx teased.

"You know, millenia ago, Atlanteans were all surface-dwelling humans, until the continent sank," Kaldur explained. "Our ancestors used science and sorcery to adapt to life beneath the waves. Since then, the populace of each city-state evolved along its own course. Atlantis is now a continent of diversity and our capital, Posiedonis is the most diverse of all. The conservatory draws the best and brightest from throughout Atlantis."

"It's wonderful!" M'gann grinned, "My world could take lessons—they should take lessons."

"And are you three typical of the surface?" a fish-like boy, La'gaan inquired.

"Not really," Onyx answered. "Conner's more normal than I am."

"Really?" the other boy scoffed.

"You aren't half-dinosaur!"

"I've always loved mermaids!" M'gann gushed swimming over to Lori. Flipping back she allowed the lower half of her body to change, legs merging together and lengthening out into a tail. "What do you think?!"

"I…I am…flattered?"

"Don't worry, you get used to it after a while," Onyx reassured patting the girl's shoulder before swimming around to explore more.

"Well, this has been charming, but I should go," Ronal grumbled turning to swim away before looking startled as Onyx appeared in front of him.

"Why?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you surface-freak!" he snapped swimming around the hybrid like he had the plague.

"He's probably feeling outnumbered," Sha'ark snarled.

"Outnumbered?" Onyx murmured.

"So, what's it like on the surface?" La'gaan asked causing Onyx to swim back down to his friends.

"Other than drier."

"And tastier if you know what I mean chum?" Sha'ark growled looming over Conner and Onyx, neither of which felt very intimidated.

"KALDUR!"

"Onyx, M'gann, Conner, these are my dearest friends Tula and Garth."

"You all are very much welcome in Atlantis," Garth greeted. "Any friend of Kaldur's is a friend of ours!"

_"So that's why he brought us,"_ M'gann realized.

_"Huh?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Kaldur's in love with Tula. It's radiating off him in waves, but she's with Garth and he couldn't face them alone,"_ she explained.

_"I thought he was dating Raquel?"_ Onyx asked getting a shrug from Conner.

"Topo?"

All heads turned to a squid-looking boy covering his chest with his arm's, looking startled to be spotted as Kaldur swam over. "Topo, I want you to meet my friends."

"Maybe some other time!"

Grabbing his friend's arm, Kaldur's eyes widened as he saw torn clothes and glowing burns coming from his chest. "TOPO! WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!"

Lori, La'gaan and Blubber swam over, pulling Topo away. "It doesn't concern you Kaldur'ahm."

"Ah, Squidboy's chum. And chum gets what it deserves: swallowed," Sha'ark growled swimming off after the group.

"What the hell was that about?" Onyx muttered.

"Those markings, I couldn't read them," Conner replied.

"They're ancient Atlantean runes," Tula supplied.

"Spelling what?"

"Impure."

-.-

"Speak to me of Topo," Kaldur said as they swam in the direction the others swam off in.

"He was a victim of purists," Garth answered, "they consider themselves the direct descendants of the original Atlanteans—"

"And," Tula cut him off, "they attempt to scare anyone they consider impure into leaving Poseidonis."

"That's so messed up," Conner growled crossing his arms.

"What qualifies as impure?"

"Tula and I appear human and thus are considered pure," Garth explained.

"But my visible gills render me impure," Kaldur spat looking down.

"Only by the most rigid and ridiculous standards!"

"I'm gonna kick their asses," Onyx growled crossing his arms.

"But I was just here!" Kaldur continued looking to his aquatic friends. "There was no word of this then!"

"The old prejudices have always lurked under the surface Kaldur," Tula spoke softly, "but the clash between skin and scales, flesh and fins, has…escalated rapidly recently, almost without a cause into violence and intimidation."

"LET GO OF ME!"

They all turned around and swam up the ridge to find Blubber, Lori, La'gaan, Blubber, Sha'ark, and one terrified Topo in a shouting match with Ronal and several others.

"WE KNOW YOU'RE PURISTS!"

"YOU CAN'T HIDE BEHIND YOUR ROBES AND HOODS!"

"DO WE APPEAR TO BE HIDING BARBARIAN!?"

"YOUR KIND ALREADY INFECTS TRITONIS, NANAUVE, NEPTUNOS, LEMURIA, SHAYERIS, EVEN CRASTINUS!"

"SHA'ARK!" Kaldur exclaimed leading the way towards the feuding groups. "What are you doing with Ronal?!"

"Preparing supper," the beast growled.

"LET HIM GO!" M'gann exclaimed using her telekinesis to yank Ronal out of Sha'ark's grip and pushing them away from each other.

"Careful Earther! Come between a shark and his meal and you become the meal!" he threatened before Onyx and Conner got between them.

"Try us, you'll break your teeth, Chum," Conner warned as Onyx allowed his eyes to turn red with a slight electric spark over his arms in warning.

"This doesn't concern you Earthers!"

"WHO STARTED THIS?!" Kaldur demanded.

"THEY DID!" Ronal and Lori screamed pointing to the other group.

"MY FRIENDS AND I WERE JUST MINDING OUR OWN BUSINESS WHEN THESE FISH-HEADS ATTACKED US!"

AND WHAT WAS TOPO DOING WHEN YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ATTACKED HIM!"

"Please leave me out of this," the boy squeaked.

"You don't know that was us!" Ronal exclaimed.

"But," a girl on Ronal's side snarled with a sinister grin, "if your kind don't like your treatment here you're more than welcome to leave Poseidonis!"

-.-

"If Kaldur and his friends had not interviened, those fish heads would've been marked impure," Ronal smirked. "Especially Lemaris!"

"Then it's fortunate Aqualad did intervene, for anonymity is the greatest weapon of the purists," Kuleana smirked putting her hands on her hips.

Behind her, a tall figure rose from his throne, "My lieutenant is right my children. Put on your hoods, they are to you what Neptune's Trident is to the Ocean Master! The hour is close at hand! Good King Orin is away and by the time he returns Posiedonis will be purged of the impure! And since our King himself is pure, he will recognize the wisdom of our actions!"

"And what of Kaldur'ahm and his surface-dwellers?"

The Mosasaur hybrid scoffed, "Please, here in the water, only the Martian and Aqualad are the real threats, the other two are way in over their heads. But, make mistake to underestimate them. You know your missions, so let's get started."

As the purists swam away, Ocean Master removed his helmet, smirking at his Lieutenant, "You did well Kuleana."

"Of course Prince Orm, it won't be long before Atlantis and the Queen, see the Light."


	39. Murky Waters

Chapter 38

**A/N: hey y'all, welcome back for the next chapter! Sorry for long break, college really picked up pace, so I'll be trying to update my stories when I can. It's just I have a ton of work to do. Remember, I just own my OCs.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold's raptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Poseidonis, January 30, 23:50UTC**

_"Conner, Onyx, M'gann perhaps you'd prefer the Bioship to sleeping in the Atlantean pods?"_ Kaldurs asked as they all lied down in the strange beds.

Onyx gave a snort, _"Please compared to cuddling with the pack, this is roomy."_

_"I'd be fine if you'd stop calling them pods."_

_"I prefer this Kaldur,"_ M'gann added, _"it reminds me of being back in the womb."_

The Martian girl didn't appear to notice the weird looks she got from the others at the comment. And she was saved from such as Kaldur shot up in his bed looking alarmed as a translucent form of the queen appeared in the room. "Anaxxa Mera!" he exclaimed.

"Kaldur'ahm! Ze exo anafkh!" she replied before her image dissolved.

"Kaldur what's going on?" Conner demanded.

"The Queen, she's under attack!" he replied leaping from his bed with the others in tow, leading them towards the Queen's chambers. Turning a bend they came across Ocean Master and his followers exiting the room, and unconscious woman in their arms. "There! It's Ocean Master! And he has the Queen! Hold traitors! Release the Queen!"

"Delay them!" Ocean Master ordered swimming further back with one of his followers.

Several of his men swam forwards towards the group. Grabbing his waterbearers, Glowing maces appeared in Kaldur's hands as he used them to knock his attackers aside as he gave chase. Behind him M'gann used to telekinesis to blast several aside as Superboy and Nightmare punched their targets out of the way.

"You know where to take her."

"You will not take her anywhere!" Kaldur exclaimed as he burst out after the traitors.

"So now the fish-head has issues," Ocean Master sneered turning to face them trident in hand. "A little time among royalty and he believes he himself is royal as well. But proximity does not make majesty, nor wisdom apparently."

"What are you rambling about?!" Superboy snarled.

"Simple," Ocean Master drawled dodging the clone's attack and throwing him back into M'gann, "the royal palace has spells allowing only the use of defensive magic…" light began to crackle across the tips of his trident, "but outside is quite a different story." Turning the weapon towards them, lightning shot out hitting the four in the chest knocking them back.

Raising his arms, Nightmare's own lightning sparked to life in reaction. Swimming towards Ocean Master he threw a punch only to get slammed aside by something else.

Kuleana smirked pinning him down her claws digging into his shoulder. "Goodnight," she said throwing her fist down she punched him between the eyes sending him spiraling into darkness.

-.-

**February 1, 00:14UTC**

"I have sent word to King Orin," Prince Orm said as they gathered around a map, "but Aquaman is on a mission with the Justice League and cannot be reached, so it is up to us to save the Queen."

"And the heir she carries," Kaldur added.

"Of course," the prince nodded, "My sources informed me of two possible purist strongholds, but as members of the guards may've been complicit in the abduction I will investigate one location with the few guards I trust implicitly while you and your surface friends investigate the other."

"Agreed, but swim carefully My Prince, Ocean Master is formidable and dangerous."

"So it is said," Orm smirked as the surface dwellers swam off. Turning away, he raised his fingers up to the comm in his ear. "Seaspray?"

/Ocean Master/

"How is our guest?"

/Secure and ready. All you need is to show up and use the trident/ she replied. /And the heroes?/

"They took the bait, ready the trap."

/With pleasure/

-.-

**Old Roman's Trench, 00:35UTC**

_"According to Orm one of the purist strongholds is deep within this trench, so stay alert,"_ Kaldur warned as they swam down into the depths. A rumble came from above, gaining their attention as a shadow passed over them.

Eyes growing wide, the group was forced to swim out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting crushed under a massive boulder. It was then they caught sight of the group of purists standing above them, with a certain familiar face leading the charge. "Hey Kaldur," Kuleana greeted with a wave, "miss me?"

"Kuleana," Kaldur growled summoning his weapons. "So I see Ocean Master works for the Light."

"Didn't the traitor already tell you that?" she rolled her eyes. "Anyways, can't have you interfering." She snapped her fingers and the men began to use magic to attack them.

Fortunately, it didn't last long as an attack came from behind as Kaldur's friends swam towards them. Sha'ark lunged first, punching a purist before grabbing him, "Let's get that hood off…the tasty way."

"Sha'ark NO!" Lemaris used her tail to knock the man over the head while simultaneously pushing him out of the way of the beast's bite.

"Lemaris! Don't do that to me again unless you wanna become chum!"

"Uh…you have something stuck in your teeth…"

"Fight now, argue later!" Onyx called grabbing a purist and using him to beat another purist.

-.-

**S'atiroman Cave, 00:41UTC**

"What do you want with me?" Mera demanded tugging against her chains as she glared up at Ocean Master.

"What do I want?" he mused getting up from his throne, grabbing his trident. "I only want what is mine. But first…" his trident began to glow, "I want your power!"

The Queen screamed, doubling over her rounded stomach gasping, "Stop…please…you're draining…you're draining my life force…I'm with child."

"Ah yes, the heir to the throne of the Atlantis," Ocean Master remembered, "A tragedy if such a child did not survive this night, but at least the babe will be in good company." Raising his trident higher Ocean Master began to chant.

-.-

"Victory is at hand!" Garth exclaimed.

"And then we feast!"

"NO SHA'ARK!"

"Lemaris you really are—uhh!" Sha'ark groaned doubling over.

Kaldur groaned as his body began to ache, his strength seeming to eb from his body as Kuleana slammed him against the cliffside with a smirk. "What's the matter Kaldur? Feeling weak?"

"What did you do?" he grunted as she grabbed the front of his suit yanking him up.

"Simple," she wrapped her hand around his throat turning him around and digging her claws into his scalp, "Ocean Master is purifying all of you!"

Kaldur's eyes widened in horror. Below them he could see his friends struggling just as he'd been. Blubber appeared to have fallen unconscious, Sha'ark wasn't moving as a purist with a knife swam towards him, Garth and M'gann were helping pull La'Gaan and Lori from the battlefield.

"Let's watch the traitors and earthers die together now shall we?"

"Let him go!" A water blast hit Seaspray shoving her back. At the impact, Kaldur cried out in pain as her claws dug across his neck and scalp, blood slowly seeping to permeate the surrounding seawater. "I got you Kaldur," Tula said grabbing his arm and slinging it over her shoulder.

A menacing roar echoed through the water and they both turned to see the mosasaur hybrid shooting towards them. Eyes widening in alarm, Kaldur raised a shaky arm, holding out his waterbearers and creating a shield. Their attacker slammed into it, full speed, pushing against it, her claws slowly digging into it.

Tula let him go, swimming up from the safety of the shield and throwing a blast at her. With a growl, Kuleana pushed off the shield before the attack hit her, shoving Kaldur back at the force.

"WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!" someone exclaimed as dark clouds seemed to start to engulf the battlefield.

"It's not sorcery it's…Topo!" Tula exclaimed catching a glimpse of their friend swimming off with Sha'ark before they were surrounded in the black ink. "This may've won us a reprieve, but I can't see anything to take advantage of if."

"But I can," a familiar voice snarled and they both grunted as Kuleana attacked them again. "Way to put the battle in my favor!" She spun around, her tail slamming against their heads, knocking them together. Her kick followed immediately afterwards, slamming down on Aqualad's shoulder causing him to cry out in pain.

Kuleana lunged forwards again, and Tula pushed Kaldur aside, screaming as sharp claws ripped through her side.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

Kuleana grunted as a black and red shadow emerged from the darkness, dragging the mosasaur hybrid back into it. Through the ink, the pair could hear roars and flashes of light as the two hybrids clashed.

Onyx slashed his claws across Kuleana's cheek, causing her to hiss as she kicked him in the gut, retreating into the ink weaving between the forms of the others as they drifted in the darkness. Chasing after, a purist swam into his way, causing the Amazon to throw an electrified punch sending him flying back into one of his buddies as the ink began to clear.

"Superboy and Nightmare have won the battle!" Tula cheered.

"But we are losing the war unless…" Kaldur trailed off. _"M'gann are you still in range?"_

_"I'm here Kaldur,"_ she answered. _"I'm following that purist we allowed to escape. Just one problem, Kuleana. She made it out."_

_"Sorry."_

_"It's no problem, I don't think she knows I'm here yet. Sending you a mental image of the location now."_

_"Yes, I see it, S'atiroman Cave. Wait for us there,"_ Kaldur ordered opening his eyes and looking at them. "Topo, Sha'ark and Blubber are in no condition for battle."

"Speak for yourself," Tula protested. "Neither are you and Lori! Leave this to Garth, Superboy, Nightmare, and I."

"No Tula, Ocean Master and Kuleana are too dangerous, and their purists are too great in number," Kaldur argued.

"Besides, we if fish-heads didn't fight our own battles, it'd become another excuse for the purists' contempt!" Lori agreed.

-.-

"Please…I beg you…spare me," Mera gasped, "for the sake of….of my child."

"I'm sorry, but mercy hardly figures into my plans," Ocean Master apologized. "Soon, Poseidonis will be purged of its impure, causing city-states of impure majorities to seek vengeance! And with Aquaman too busy grieving his wife and child to reconcile the warring factions…An Atlantis in chaos will fall and the seven seas will belong to the Ocean Master!"

"So you used us…you played on our prejudices and used us to destroy our king and country," the returning purist said lowering his hood in horror. "Forgive me My Queen."

"No Ronal," Ocean Master replied, "forgive me, I am a cliché, rattling off my plans for all to hear and shattering your faith in me. But what's done is done."

"It is you that's done!"

"Seaspsray!"

Ronal cried out as claws raked across his back. He managed to glance at the culprit and went pale at that sight of Ocean Master's lieutenant right behind him. She smirked and thrust her hand out, a blast flying from her palm and turning into a Mosasaur creature, wrapping around Ronal. "Don't act so surprised, magic is so easy to learn," she snickered hurling him across the room.

He grunted as he slammed into something, but it wasn't hard like he'd expected. It sort of felt like…like a person.

"Ah, the Martian," Ocean Master snarled. "Excellent catch Lieutenant. Fortunately I know how to deal with Martians," Ronal screamed as the water around him and the surface-dweller became scalding hot, "they cannot take the heat!" As they writhed in agony, Ocean Master turned as the rest entered the cave, "And the Kryptonian surfacer too. So powerful," he threw a blast obliterating Superboy's mask, "and yet so vulnerable!"

"You cannot fight us all villain!"

"Are you sure of that child?!" Ocean Master grinned slamming the staff of the trident down on the ground. A shockwave rippled through the water, sending all of the flying back away from him while simultaneously freeing M'gann and Ronal from the boiling waters. Reorienting herself, M'gann swam down towards Conner to help him. "The key you see, is to target the weakest opponents first," Ocean Master raised his hand, a giant squid construct coming to life in the water, its massive tentacles swinging towards Kaldur and Lori, "such as those already suffering from my mystic attack on the imoure, forcing those unaffected into futile heroics!"

"We shall see whose actions are futile!" Garth retorted as the marks on his arms began to glow. "I SUMMON THE POWER OF THE TEMPEST!"

Torrents of water swirled around the sorcerer and he thrust his hands forwards, allowing the magic storm surge to shoot through the water towards Ocean Master. As the attack approached a loud roar echoed through the cavern and the construct of a full-grown Mosasaur blacked Garth's attack against Ocean Master.

"Excellent work Lieutenant," Ocean Master praised before looking up to the group with a smirk. "Oh, so close, but we are not so easily defeated."

"Perhaps not," Kaldur snarled, "but your spells are broken and without the Queen's power you cannot stand against us all!"

"I recover rapidly miscreant! Would you risk my full wrath?!" Mera snarled as her marks began to glow.

Beside the Light Officer, the hybrid girl snarled. "Stand down Seaspray, we can not take them yet," he swung his trident creating a portal, "but it shouldn't be long."

-.-

**Poseidonis, 7:01UTC**

"Once again Atlantis and its king owe you the greatest debt Kaldur'ahm," Aquaman praised as the group stood in the throne room.

"And rest assured, I will deal with the traitorous sources that led us both into ambush," Orm promised.

"Thank you," Kaldur nodded. "How is the Queen and the heir?"

"They are quite well I assure you," Mera replied swimming in a bundle in her arms.

"Thank the gods," M'gann sighed swimming over, "you scared all of us when you went into labor."

"Stress can cause such things," Mera replied gently, "fortunately Artur's birth was not premature."

"Yes," Orin said swimming over and holding his wife and newborn son close, "I am thankful that you all returned safetly."

"Yes, we are most fortunate that the heir and the queen survived," Orm nodded in agreement, looking away as they all gushed over the newborn.

-.-

**14:35UTC**

"You sure you don't wanna come back with us?" M'gann asked as she, Conner, and Onyx got onto the bioship.

"I wish to spend some more time here, in case another incident happens," he answered. "Plus, I believe having a few peaceful days in Atlantis will do me good. I wish to catch up with my friends down here. see how all the tensions arose."

"Promise you'll call if something goes wrong again?" Onyx requested.

"I shall do my best," he chuckled. "Now you should go, I believe your mother would be worried."

"I'm not a child!"

"On the contrary, you are the second youngest on the Team," Kaldur reminded.

"Not counting me," Conner reminded with a smirk as the hybrid tossed an annoyed glance at him. "But come on, we really should get back. I don't think we want to leave Wolf, Blue, and Indie alone at the Cave too long."

Even underwater, Kaldur could see the teen's hair fluff up in alarm. "Shit! Sorry Kaldur, gotta go, thanks for bringing us, call us if need help bye!"

The Atlantean shook his head as they darted into the Bioship. His friends were certainly protective of their pets. A bubble came from his right and he raised a brow, speaking of which…Bubbles looked at him with wide eyes before randomly deciding to inflate again, his little fins flapping wildly as he started to drift away.

"Is that necessary Bubbles?" he questioned swimming over, looking over the odd fish. The pufferfish's big round eye looked at him and Kaldur was hit by a blast of water as the fish released it all like a balloon flying around him before coming to a stop by bumping into his arm. Sighing, he reached up and started scratching his back, "You are a strange fish."

"I'll say."

Recognizing the voice, Kaldur grabbed his weapons, hiding Bubbles behind him as he turned to face Kuleana. "What are you doing here?"

"What? Girl can't just take a swim?" she asked with a shrug.

A sword formed in his hand, "Your actions have proven unlikely."

"Relax, I'm not here for a fight," she rolled her eyes putting her hands on her hips.

"Then why are you here?" he growled.

"For something that's mutually beneficial," she answered swimming close to him, close enough where Kaldur could see the individual scales on her cheeks, revealing many different shades of blue and green.

Kaldur furrowed his brows backing away from her. "What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes as if it were obvious, "As I said, what I have to offer is something that'd benefit both sides of this little conflict of ours," she reiterated moving to Bubbles and gently petting the small pufferfish. "You see, Ocean Master, the main members of the Light have deemed him a…problem. One that needs to be handled. So, my offer benefits both sides: we get rid of Ocean Master from the group and you heroes get Aquaman's arch nemesis. Seem fair?"

"Why get rid of Ocean Master?" he questioned watching her suspiciously as she swam around.

"I just said why," she groaned. "He's a problem, I mean, he was willing to kill an unborn child to further his own agenda, the bosses weren't too happy to hear that."

"So they sent you to handle him," Kaldur realized.

"Yep," she smiled. "I am supposed to kill him, but…that'd be too difficult considering who he is. So that's why I came to you! Help me, and your king loses his greatest enemy."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Cause, bonds of blood are thicker than water," she said cryptically.

"That's not an answer Kuleana."

"You'll understand one day," she sighed, "after all Aquaman chose you as his sidekick for a reason."

"What are you talking about?" he growled narrowing his eyes at her.

"A topic for another day," Kuleana shrugged, "So…do we have a deal?"


	40. Uncommon Denominators

Chapter 39

**A/N: hey y'all, welcome back, good to see y'all again. Hope y'all are enjoying the comic-based chapters so far. I'm using them cause I discovered that there was so much that happened in them that didn't happen in the show.**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**/comms/**

**February 17****th****, 20:12PDT, Star City**

"What do you see Artemis?" Green Arrow inquired as the vigilante and his protégé sat perched on the roof across the museum.

"Museum after hours, bypassed security system, and a point of access for a thief," she listed lowering he binoculars. "We going in? I'd love to nail this guy!"

Green Arrow snickered, "How do you know it's a guy? And yes," he fired a line across to the museum. "We're going in."

Without hesitating, Artemis threw her bow over the line, using it to zipline down to the museum with her mentor hot on her heels. Letting go, the acher down through the open window, rolling to her feet and looking around the dark halls warily.

"Ok, so he or she has to be around here somewhere," she murmured.

"Not he or she," Green Arrow corrected reaching into his quiver and pulling out an arrow. The end of the arrow light up, illuminating the room, "they."

Artemis' eyes widened as she spotted the robbers. "They, got it!" she huffed diving out of the way of a hail of bullets. Reaching into her quiver, she notched an arrow covering her eyes as her mentor fired one of his own. Through her closed lids she could see the room flash with light and her ears ring as the flashbang want off.

"GAHHH!"

"I CAN'T SEE!"

"See," Green Arrow chuckled elbowing one in the face before whirling on his heel and whacking another upside the head with his bow, "Gotta keep them off balance! We're not looking for a fair fight here!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Artemis replied emerging from her hiding spot and firing. Her arrow slammed into the ceiling, causing oil to rain down on the disoriented men.

"I CAN'T SEE!"

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!"

Artemis lunged forwards, swinging her bow and slamming one of the robbers into the other Green Arrow was fighting, knocking both out. "Well," she panted, "what did you think?"

"That we're going to discuss using arrows that don't up my dry-cleaning bill," her mentor deadpanned. "But first…"

Green Arrow took off up the stairs, leaving Artemis to race to catch up as they began to head towards the roof. As they got closer, they could hear the sound of a chopper. "We're too late!"

"It's never too late!" GA replied firing an arrow. "GPS tracker armed and activated."

Artemis scowled as the screen of the tracker went dark, the words _no signal_ flashing across the screen. "Uh, discovered and deactivated."

"Dang," the man muttered glaring down at the ground.

Rolling her eyes, Artemis pulled out her tracker. "By the way, that arrow I fired," she showed him the screen, "microbeads in the oil contained built-in GPS."

"Nice."

"I have a good teacher."

-.-

**Central City, February 18, 16:39CDT**

"Ok, so you're on patrol and you hear a growl," Wally began racing after his uncle, "but why call me to help with one escaped cheetah?"

"One: I knew you'd have a large, raw steak in your fridge," Flash replied as they ran into the zoo, "And two: it's not just one cheetah."

Looking forwards, the younger speedster practically skid to a stop at the sight in front of him. All over the zoo, he could see animals rampaging out of their enclosures. A rhino had chased some people onto the top of a gazebo. A lion was growling at an elephant. Two tigers were circling a food cart with an unfortunate person crouching on top, trying to keep away from the animals. Two bears were swiping at the people hiding on the gazebo.

And that was just what he could currently see.

A growl came from behind him and the redhead's eyes widened as he dodged the cheetah's attack as it chased the steak currently in his arms. Dropping the meat, it began to chow down.

Good, that was one less problem to deal with.

"First thing's first," Flash began.

"Isolate the animals?" KF inquired.

"Rescue the bystanders," his uncle corrected.

"Right…one all-purpose rescue coming up."

With that, the two speedsters split up, rushing in and out of the zoo, dropping off people in the safety of the outside until they were sure it was clear.

"Now do we isolate the animals?!" Wally exclaimed.

"You got it Kid!" Flash replied sprinting back in. "Step one: herd!"

Following his mentor the two speedsters rounded up the larger animals rampaging at the entrance to the zoo.

"Step two: contain!" Wally smirked as they began running circles around the encircled animals. "One deep trench coming up!"

Their rapid treads on the ground slowly wore through the concrete, before long reaching the weaker soil down below. The dirt gave way much faster, allowing the pair to carve a deep trench into the ground, unfortunately, Wally was feeling anything but happy as his mentor repeatedly lapped him.

"You're doing it again!"

"Sorry—kid—I—know—it bugs you—when I—lap you—like this," Flash replied with each lap. The older speedster raced out of the trench, forcing Wally to follow. "But we needed this dug quickly so we could address the real problem."

"Yeah, figuring out who released the animals in the first place and why," Kid Flash agreed as they skid to a stop in front of the cops.

"Thank you Flash, we can take it from here. Tranq the animals and get them back to their cages safely."

"FLASH! TROUBLE IN THE REPTILE CENTER!" another cop screeched sprinting over.

"We're on it!" Flash said as they took off and ran into the center. "Wow, that's a lot of monkeys."

"Yeah, SB would hate this," Wally grimaced. Running forwards, he began to grab as many monkeys as he could carry. "Seriously, I know this is a zoo, but who needs this many monkeys!" One began punching his arm, another was pulling on his hair, two were fighting in his arms, and one was surrently shoving it's fingers up the speedster's nose. "OW! QUIT IT!" Wally ran into the cage, throwing the infernal primates down before slamming the door behimd him panting. "Almost done. Where to now?"

"Back to the reptile lab. I spotted something," Flash replied.

Frowning, Wally gave chase, "You're having another CSI moment aren't you?"

"Kid, I was a CSI before anyone knew what CSI stood for," Flash skid to a stop in front of the one the sample fridges, "but you don't need a degree in Criminal Science to spot what's wrong with this picture." Flash pulled out the empty container, examining the label. "Someone went through a lot of trouble to create a diversion to steal this: concentrated cobra venom."

Kid Flash furrowed his brows. Why would anyone steal that? Looking down at the ground, his gaze landed on something on the ground. "Uh, Flash, I think I'm having my own CSI moment," he crouched down looking at the massive footprint. "Either this zoo has bigfoot, or someone sporting size twenty-fours. And there's something else too," lowering his goggles, the teen turned on the scanners, "switching to microscopic mode…pollen. Nothing like what I've seen around Central City. Take a sample back to your lab and it should lead us straight to the thieves!"

"Great catch Kid!"

Wally smirked putting his hand on his hips, "What can I say? I'm awesome."

"Keep telling yourself that."

-.-

**Gotham, February 22, 20:37EDT**

"STOP CHEATING!" Dick exclaimed as his kart went flying into the void as they played Mario Kart.

"I'm not cheating!" Onyx stuck his tongue out. Crossing the finish line, the hybrid through his arms in the air, "YEAH! FIRST PLACE!"

"THAT'S ONLY CAUSE YOU GOT THAT STUPID BLUE SHELL!"

"You're just a sore loser!"

Dick tackled Onyx, causing the pair to roll around the living room as Bruce walked in looking up from a report to watch the two teens. "Boys."

The duo froze, looking at him with wide eyes. Crossing his arms, the Dark Knight raised a brow, causing the two to quickly separate and try to look innocent.

Sighing, the man shook his head. Suppose he shouldn't be surprised about this, given what happened over Christmas, but at least they were caught early in their ruckus this time. "Come on, suit up."

"For what? I thought we weren't doing patrol tonight?" Dick asked.

"You two weren't, I was until I got the intel on a rash string of robberies across the country," he replied. "So both of you suit up."

"Wait, I can go too?!" Onyx perked up.

"I doubt your mother would forgive me if I left you alone at the manor," he answered. "Or would you rather join her at that gala in France?"

"I'll go get my suit!"

-.-

**21:48EDT**

"The observatory?" Robin murmured as he, Batman, and Nightmare crouched on top of the model of Earth. "You sure this is the right place?" Batman turned his head slightly, and the Boy Wonder shrugged. "Standard question."

Onyx sniffed the air, frowning as he caught a strange scent. "I think whoever we're waiting on just got here." Looking down, he could see several masked individuals ambush the scientist below covering his face with something and slinging the man over one of their shoulders.

Firing their grapples, Batman and Robin swung off the Earth model, down towards the assailants. Batman threw a batarang, out as the men began to open fire. It cut through the wires supporting the Jupiter model, causing it to fall towards the ground.

One unfortunate bad guy was trying to escape the falling planet when a lasso wrapped around his arms. The rope went taunt and the man screamed as he was yanked off his feet and hurling into one of his buddies.

The big guy carrying the hostage continued to race forwards. With his free arm, he punched the Jupiter model, breaking part of it with the sheer force sending it flying towards Batman.

Eyes widening, Nightmare dove down, catching the model. Unfortunately, he underestimated the momentum behind the throw, because it send the teen and Dark Knight sliding across the floor. Shoving the planet aside, he panted looking around the room. "That was fun."

"Robin, you good?" Batman inquired.

"Ugh," he groaned sitting up rubbing his head, "totally felling the aster."

A startling smell caused the hybrid to bristle as his head snapped to the remaining four kidnappers. He knew that smell, his time in the Light made him very familiar with the smell of poison.

Batman appeared to notice the hybrid's alarm. And his gaze swerved towards one of the men throwing a pill into his mouth. "No!" The Dark Knight grabbed the man by his collar, unfortunately, he was too late as the man already swallowed the pill. His head snapped up towards the others as they started to do the same.

"There's still one left!" Robin exclaimed throwing one of his disks. It hit the kidnapper's hand, knocking the pill out of his grip, and Onyx threw his lasso, dragging the man by his ankles towards Bats, who quickly began his interrogation.

With a quick swing, Nightmare rehooped the lasso and put it on his hip as he approached Robin. "What's that?" he asked looking at the card in the Boy Wonder's hand.

"ID card of the victim."

"Dr. Jason Burr," Onyx read, furrowing his brows. "Any idea what these guys wanted with him?"

"No, but we're gonna find out."

-.-

**Minneapolis, February 23, 21:57CDT**

"Recognized: Green Arrow—08, Artemis—B07, Flash—04, Kid Flash—B03, Batman—02, Robin—B01, Nightmare—B08."

"All right, let's compare notes," Batman said crossing his arms.

"Artemis and I used GPS to track the Cobra-Dagger thief until they ditched the tracker somewhere here in Minneapolis," Green Arrow began.

"And we know their base of operations is here due to the pollen traces I found at the zoo they stole the cobra venom from," KF added.

"Which we confirmed through our interrogation of one of the kidnappers whom we managed to capture," Batman agreed.

Robin began typing on his hologlove, "He informed us that the location of their headquarters: a New Age Monastery, built in 1983 and abandoned in 1991, that was purchased recently by Jeffery Burr, the fraternal twin brother of our victim, but who we know as Kobra."

"Really? Kobra again?!" Wally whined.

-.-

**22:00CDT**

The group of heroes crept into the monastery, crouched and crept into a large atrium-like room. In the center, they could all see Jason Burr tied down on an alter, Kobra looming over him with the dagger in hand and his followers surrounding them.

"ALL HAIL NAGA-NAGA! ALL HAIL KOBRA!"

Kobra raised his hand, silencing his cult. "My brother, as an astronomer I believe you'll appreciate the irony—the moon and stars are in alignment for this rite. And I require your blood."

At that statement, Batman determined it was time to announce their presence. He threw a batarang, down towards Kobra in an attempt to knock the blade from the man's hand. The cult leader used the ritual dagger to deflect the attack, sending the batarang flying into the crowd. The group dove over the railing, leaping down to the floor below.

Cultists whirled on them, charging towards the intruders. Onyx grabbed his lasso, throwing it out around Mammoth's throat as the beast attempted to grab Batman. Yanking back, Mammoth grunted as he was slammed onto his back. As his opponent began to get back up, Nightmare ran forwards wrapping his legs around Mammoth's neck using his momentum to flip the monster over and slam him face-first into the ground. Picking him up, Nightmare hurled the titan into several cultists trying to attack Robin as he pulled out one of his disks and hurled it towards Kobra.

The cult leader blocked the attack with the ritual dagger before slashing his brother's chest. Blood dripping down the dagger, Kobra held the blade over the pot Shimmer held, revealing a cobra inside. The snake opened its mouth, and began glowing as soon as the blood hit it.

Three seconds later, they had a building-sized cobra in the room.


	41. Serpent's Shadow

Chapter 40

**A/N: hey y'all, welcome back, good to see y'all again. Anyways, hope ya'll're enjoying the story so far. Hope to hear more reviews! Remember I just own my OCs; JPS & YJ aren't mine.**

**/comms/**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**Minneapolis, February 23, 22:01CDT**

"Really?" Nightmare hissed, tossing a thug away. Grabbing his lasso, he threw the rope, pulling one the serpent to keep it still while Artemis, Green Arrow, and Robin fired explosives at it. The hybrid's feet slid along the ground as the giant snake attempted to pull away from the explosions as they went off along its body. However, its reaction wasn't out of pain, but anger, cause once the smoke cleared they could see no damage had been done to the beast.

"My serpent—my servant—seems impervious, but can the same be said for you nonbelievers?" Kobra mocked as Mammoth picked up Batman and Flash hurling them towards the snake.

Yanking down, Nightmare forced the beasts maw away from his friend's mentors. The building shook as the monster with the walls. Under the force, the side of the building gave way, allowing the beast to slither out of the rope, towards the city.

"That isn't good," Nightmare grimaced pulling his lasso back to him.

"We'll handle the serpent, you kids protect the hostage!" Green Arrow ordered as the Leaguers ran off.

"Kids? We're not kids!" KF protested.

"Says Kid Flash," Artemis snickered.

"Hate to interrupt your latest romantic moment, but we have work to do," Robin reminded. "Nightmare—"

"I know, I got the big guy," the hybrid drawled. Sprinting forwards, Nightmare launched himself and punched mammoth in the face. As the behemoth fell back the teen leapt over him, grabbing his shoulders. Planting his feet on the ground, he swung his opponent over his head and slammed him on the ground. The ground shook from the impact and cracks spread out from under the mutant.

Mammoth growled, eyes narrowing as he swung his arm out. Grabbing Onyx's leg, the thug hurled the hybrid into a column, knocking him through it.

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Coming through!" he heard KF calling as he probably punched the lights out of their opponents. "Night? You ok man?"

"Fine," he grunted, whipping his tail back and forth angrily as he got up.

"HAH! NOTHING EVER ESCAPES TEAM ARROW'S CALCIFYING FOAM ARROW!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Guys! Focus! We've gotta stop Kobra!" Robin reminded using his nightsticks to keep the cultists attacking him back. "Before it's too late!"

"Get the hostage, I'll handle big ugly," Nightmare growled. Blasting forwards, Onyx slid under Mammoth's fist. Grabbing his lasso, he tied one arm darting behind the beast to grab the other and tie them together. He spun around, using his tail to swipe his opponent's legs out from under him.

"NO!" he heard Robin scream.

Head snapping in the direction of the alter, he could only stare in horror as he saw Kobra stab his brother in the chest.

Green light began to emanate from the dagger, and the hybrid hissed as his sensitive eyes were blinded. Switching to thermal view, he got a clear sight of the situation. He could see something glowing white-hot in the cult leader's hand, and around it a bright almost cloud moved towards it as Kobra's form itself began glowing brighter, and larger. Pulling his third eyelid back, Nightmare's eyes grew wide as he saw what was in front of him.

"My dear brother's sacrifice is complete, and I am now the god I was always fated to be," the serpent being hissed. "ALL HAIL NAGA-NAGA! ALL HAIL KOBRA!"

"Ok…that's new," Kid Flash murmured.

"We need to move now, while Naga-Naga basks," Robin reminded.

Onyx smirked, "Allow me." Picking up Mammoth, he hurled him right into their so-called god, sending him toppling over. "One minion down."

"One to go!" Robin cackled as he leapt over Shimmer. She turned around in an attempt to kick him and ended up tied up as one of Artemis' arrows hit her, allowing the Boy Wonder to land and swipe her feet out from under her. "That's all the minions accounted for."

"Yes," a deep voice growled and the teens grunted as a massive tail slammed them aside. Rolling on the ground, they glared up at Kobra as he rose to full height. "But not their _master_! Not their _God_!"

"Oh, I'm really starting to hate this guy," Nightmare hissed.

"Good, cause we need to get that dagger," Robin smirked.

"Am I just going to end up as the distraction on this mission?"

"You're the one with super-strength," Wally reminded.

Onyx gave a half-hearted growl at them. "You're lucky that I have a target for my misplaced aggression," he stated before blasting off into the air. "HEY UGLY! THOUGHT REAL GODS WERE SUPPOSED TO FLY!"

"You dare insult a god! You children are nothing but mosquitoes—" Kobra began only to be cut off as a lasso tightened around his mouth.

Nightmare landed on his head, wrapping the rest of his rope around the cult-monster's maw. "You really do need to shut up."

"Can we hurry up? I have school tomorrow!" KF complained as he raced past, kicking Kobra in the face.

"No kidding! I have an essay due!" Artemis agreed racing towards the altar as Robin dropped a smoke bomb.

Running into the smoke, she met up with her boyfriend as he skid to a stop next to her. "What's the plan for the dagger?"

"It made him," Wally gunted yanking the blade out from the stone, "so, maybe it can break him too."

"Wow, Mr. Science spouts magical mumbo-jumbo," Artemis said impressed.

"Considering everything we've seen this year, is that really surprising?" he snickered handing her the blade, "Just be ready Archery Girl."

Artemis smirked, "Oh, I'm always ready, Kid."

Giving the blonde a peck on the cheek, the speedster ran back out into the battlefield where Robin was currently tying up the thugs, leaving Nightmare to wrangle Kobra. The naga was currently trying to get Onyx off his back, but due to his massive hood it wasn't exactly going to plan as his friend continued to yank on the lasso like a pair of reigns. Kobra slammed himself against the columns, narrowly missing crushing Nightmare between him and the stone.

"HEY KOBIE! I KNOW YOUR SECRET KRYPTONITE-STYLE WEAKNESS!" KF shouted drawing the monster's attention to him and hopefully away from his teammate for a moment. "IT'S THIS DAGGER! IF WE DESTRY IT! WE DESTROY YOU!"

At his threat, Kobra made an enraged growl, and Wally grunted as he was slammed aside by his massive serpent body. Rolling across the ground, he looked up to see Kobra slithering towards him.

"Geez! Can't keep yourself out of trouble for five minutes?" Robin snickered landing beside him and dropping a smoke bomb, allowing the duo to make a quick escape.

"Hey! You know me! I like to keep things exciting!" he smiled sliding to a stop as they saw Nightmare pulling Kobra back.

Seeing her chance, Artemis fired her arrow, dagger tied to it. The dagger-arrow hit the naga in the chest causing him to scream as a bright light and heat blasted the area.

"Did…did it work?" Wally asked hesitantly rubbing his eyes.

When they could finally see again, Kobra was gone, and his brother was sitting on the altar. "It worked," Artemis sighed.

"What happened to my brother?"

"Escaped, I think," the archer replied. "Nightmare, think you can track him?"

Onyx sniffed the air, growling as all he got was smoke, blood, and the distinct scent of someone who'd wet themselves. "I can't pick up a clear scent in this mess."

"That's all right," Flash said zipping in, "what matters is that you saved the hostage. And took down the minions, nice!"

"There are cells waiting for Mammoth and Shimmer at Belle Reve, the cultists will be sent to prison, and Kobra will join them soon enough."

"Good work kids!" Green Arrow praised. "Any problems?"

Robin snickered, "Problems? For us?"

"You kidding? No way." Artemis rolled her eyes.

Onyx crossed his arms with a smirk, "Try training with Mom sometime."

"This whole thing…psh, kid stuff," Wally waved off.

-.-

**Unknown Location**

Kobra slammed his fist against the table, growling. Everything, everything had gone so well, till those brats interfered. He was a _god_, a god who'd been befallen by mosquitoes! He was destined to rule the world, and here he was, forced to flee from his day of triumph.

Looking up at the screen before him, he glared at the team of sidekicks that had attacked him. They were a bigger thorn in his side than he anticipated. He knew it was to be expected of Batman's spawn, his mentor was notoriously difficult to handle. And he was just as egotistical as well, thinking he could stand toe to toe with a god and come out unscathed.

The archer, she was a problem. She could strike from a distance, without being seen. But, that was all she had in her favor against him. It wasn't much for her. And as for the speedster, his weakness was the archer. As well as the fact the boy was a complete clown. He wasn't even worth Kobra's time. He was just a distraction.

Red eyes flickered towards the final image and he felt hate roll through him. Of course, the Amazon, undoubtedly as devoted to peace as his mentor was. Wonder Woman had been a pain in his side for as long as he could remember. He was to bring about an Age of Chaos, and she, Batman, and their infernal allies kept stepping in his way. And this boy, this worm, had gone as far as to _muzzle_ him like a common dog. He was a _god_!

/Well, it seems like someone is having a rough day/

His head snapped up and Kobra narrowed his eyes and stood straight as he saw what appeared it be a woman. It was hard to tell though, the figure in the screen before him wore a mask, a hood, and dark armor; it almost reminded him of a cobra. "Who dares—?!"

/I am Dr. Cyber/ a clearly female voice cut him off, /and you Kobra, will want to hear my offer/

Narrowing his eyes, the man crossed his arms. He didn't trust her, but…if she proved to have something useful to him…

Dr. Cyber continued, /You see, I believe there's something we both want, something that keeps getting stopped by a certain Amazon and that little sidekick of hers/

Now, she had his attention. "And what did you have in mind?"

/Something which I'm sure will please you greatly: it involves destroying the Amazons. Once and for all/


	42. Monkey Business

Chapter 41

**A/N: hey y'all! Welcome back for the next chapter! Glad to see y'all're still enjoying the story so far. I'm excited to hear reviews, quarantine's driving me nuts (as it's likely driving everyone nuts). Remember, I just own my OCs and the story. That's it.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Mt. Justice, March 3, 10:00EDT**

"As I'm sure you all remember," Batman began activating a screen, "In September, a majority of the team participated in a mission in India, uncovering the Brain's operations and experiments. Due to the events that've transpired in the last few months, and the research of the League, we believe this is the tip of the iceberg. Common criteria in the Bwundan Jungle, suggests the Brain has another Kobra-Venom operation up and running."

"And you want us to shut it down," Kaldur said crossing his arms.

"Exactly."

"We'll have to be careful, Brain's likely to have had more time to set traps. I remember him mentioning a contingency…" she trailed off, looking away and rubbing her wrist, "when I was…you know."

"Which means your insider knowledge will be invaluable on this mission," Batman nodded. "Anything you remember?"

"He kept his experiments close to heart. But I do know he would be testing on more animals," she answered seeming a little more confident. "Given the results in India, probably ones more intelligent than baboons and vultures. Likely other primates."

"I hate monkeys," Conner huffed as they all turned to head towards the Bioship.

"Than you should get to punch plenty," Onyx snickered elbowing the older boy.

Conner rolled his eyes, "You sound way too excited about that."

"Eh, the guys and I can eat them," the hybrid bared his fangs patting Blue's head.

"God, you're almost as bad as Baywatch," Artemis scolded.

"Hey! At least I don't eat things raw!"

"What's wrong with eating things raw?" Skylar asked.

"You two are so weird."

"I wouldn't say that, lots of people eat some things raw," Robin pointed out. "Ever have sushi?"

"He has a point!"

-.-

**Bwunda, 20:11CAT**

"Oh Mallah, les enfants, zey plague me. First India, and now L'afrique. Have they no respect pour la science?"

"No my friend, they do not. Like most of their kind, they fear simple progress."

"Tragique, but true, mon cher Ultra Humanite," the Brain agreed turning to the silver gorilla. "Mais what would you suggest?"

"The obvious of course," a new voice spoke, and Hardshell walked up, holding a pad, "summon Grodd."

Ultra Humanite chuckled, "You my boy, read my mind."

-.-

_"Link established,"_ Miss Martian said.

_"You know, if you want to establish a link, I can help—"_

_"I can hear you Wallace!"_ Artemis warned causing the speedster to yelp.

_"Babe! You know you're my one and only! Just wanting to spread the love!"_

Artemis raised a brow, _"Remix, Miss M, how do all of you feel about a girls-only movie or something after the mission?"_

_"Sounds fun."_

_"I'm in!"_

_"We could invite Zatanna and Rocket too!"_

_"Babe!"_ Wally whined.

_"Um, does anyone else smell monkey?"_ Conner spoke up. _"Cuz this jungle reeks of monkeys. And I hate monkeys."_

_"We know. And this is the jungle,"_ Rocket frowned.

_"No,"_ Onyx hissed, hair bristling as he glared into the bushes, _"he's right. We're being watched."_

_"From where?"_ Aqualad questioned watching as the animals of the team seemed to be growling in different directions.

The bushes all around them shivered and they could only get into fighting positions as enhanced gorillas emerged. _"I'm guessing, everywhere,"_ Remix answered raising her Morningstar.

_"Break off their inhibitor collars, after that they'll break off their attack!" _Kaldur ordered.

The Atlantean ducked as Superboy was hurled over him, slamming into a tree. _"One problem. They aren't wearing collars!"_

_"Miss Martian, camouflage mode. You will be our secret weapon in case things go wrong."_

_"Acknowledged,"_ she replied disappearing.

_"We must make an escape and regroup. Robin, lay down cover!"_

_"Way ahead of you boss-man!"_ the Boy Wonder smirked as several smoke bombs went off.

_"Switching to infrared, looking for a clear path now,"_ KF said.

**"Indie! Blue! We're falling back to regroup!"** Nightmare barked switching to thermal. The two dinosaurs leapt off the gorillas they were mauling.

"Where'd this big hairy wall come from?!" Kid Flash exclaimed running into something. "Oh God…"

_"Not God, Grodd,"_ a new voice spoke and a moment later Onyx bristled as he felt the link go dead.

"Well that sent a couple running," Artemis panted lowering her bow as the gorillas retreated from the explosion.

"Good, cause I think we're offline," Remix replied slamming another through a tree with her mace.

"She must be unconscious and still camouflaged," Aqualad stated.

"Scanning in infrared now," Superboy said.

"BEHIND YOU!" Remix screamed. Flying forwards, she swung her mace, swinging it up into the massive ape as it came down towards them. Landing on his back, the gorilla bared its fangs as the winged girl dove down towards him. Rolling out of the way, Grodd avoiding being flattened and he grabbed the girl's leg, hurling her into Aqualad and Superboy.

Seeing her teammate's predicament, Artemis prepared to fire an arrow. Two gorillas began to race towards her and the archer sighed as a lasso yanked one away as Indie and Blue tackled the other. Reaching into her quiver, she jumped as she felt something grab it. The huntress swung her bow, shattering it against the silver-grey hide of another gorilla. Stumbling back, she tried to grab her crossbow only to freeze as something latched around her neck.

She new that buzz. And before she could prepare herself, the inhibitor collar came to life.

Hearing a scream, Wally's eyes widened as he looked in the direction to see his girlfriend falling to the ground, a sparking inhibitor collar around her neck. Moving to help her, his eeyes widened as one latched around his own neck.

Onyx pulled his lasso back as he tossed another ape into the woods. Looking for his next target, he froze. Artemis, Wally, and Skylar were unconscious, one gorilla slammed Robin to the ground slapping an inhibitor collar around his neck as another ape slammed Conner and Kaldur against each other until they were unconscious. This fight wasn't going well.

**"We need to fall back!"** Blue hissed from his right.

As much as Onyx hated to admit it, she was right. They weren't going to win, not like this. Switching to thermal, he pinpointed M'gann, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder as he retreated into the jungle. Once she woke up they could regroup and come up with a plan to rescue their friends.

Racing through the jungle, the group found a creek, making sure to run through it as long as they could. They didn't know how strong an ape's scent of smell was, but they weren't keen to find out.

They reached a waterfall and Onyx looked around through the brush. There had to be a cave or somewhere to hide in this infernal jungle. Sorna had caves everywhere. Especially near water. Sniffing the air, the hybrid couldn't smell any danger, but that was why he chose somewhere near water. It was harder to track prey. Shoving his head through the waterfall, he was relieved to see the same rule of caves held true here as well. **"There's a cave back here!"**

Jogging back to the others, Onyx picked up M'gann putting her on Indie's back. Once he was sure she wouldn't fall, he picked up a large boulder, using it to block the waterflow as the pets and his unconscious friend went inside. Putting it down where he found it, he flew through the water. He may've been drenched, but it was a good place to hide until they could come up with a plan.

Looking at Blue, Indie shifted Miss Martian onto Wolf before he went over to his other packmate. Sitting beside Nightmare, the black beast gave his packmate a reassuring lick. He didn't like leaving his pack behind either. But it was the right call. Otherwise they all would've been back in cages.

Indie had no intention of that happening to his pack again. He'd heard the stories. He spoke to Blue about his own experiences, and in turn she told him her own. And, despite what many thought about them, they weren't stupid. Indie and Blue could always tell when their pack was distressed. They had hurt too.

Glancing back at Nightmare, the indoraptor gave a worried rumble as he looked at his brother. Nightmare was curled in on himself, looking wary as he watched for danger outside. Just like on the nights he'd scare them awake with a shriek of distress during the night. But this time, his packmate's fear was very real. Purring, the large raptor curled around the smaller hybrid. **"It's not your fault."**

Gold eyes glanced towards him and Nightmare pressed his cheek against his muzzle. **"We don't leave pack behind."**

**"And we'll rescue them,"** Blue chimed in setting her head in Onyx's lap. **"You saved us, we've all…rescued other…not pack, we can get our pack back."**

Indie growled, baring his teeth, **"We ****_will_**** get them back. Even if it means tearing our prey limb from limb."**

-.-

**Gorilla City, 23:59CAT**

"Excellent work mes amis," Brain praised as the apes dumped the unconscious traitors at his feet, metaphorically speaking. "But, where is la Martian, A1? And where is mon loup and mos raptors?"

The silver gorilla began to sign with his hands and Ultra Humanite frowned. "What is he saying?"

"Mon frere, have you still not learned la langue des signes?"

"I've been a tad busy surgically upgrading your apes."

"He's saying she was invisible so they couldn't find the body, and A1 escaped with the raptors and the wolf into the jungle," Hardshell translated crossing his arms.

The Brain huffed, "Zese idiots didn't realize I wanted la cratures. Zet let zem go."

"To be fair," Humanite began, you ordered them to bring the team. You didn't specify to include their pet. The Kobra-Venom made them physically superior, and our brain-enhancement procedures have granted them sentience, but you cannot expect genius."

"C'est vrai. I blame Mallah. He has spoiled me; alas zey cannot all be Mallahs," Brain said using a robotic arm to pat his companion on the shoulder. "But, it is too late now. Zey are in zer elemant. Ze jungle, is se last place you want to hunt raptors."

"But we need to find them anyways," Hardshell stated. "The Kobra-Venom may be interfering with the mental enhancements; I recommend we test that next. But, the solution to the missing subjects is a simple one…" picking up a pair of goggles he tossed them to Grodd. "Use these infrared goggles to find the escapees. And don't return without them, or there will be consequences."

-.-

_"Ugh," M'gann groaned holding her head as she sat up. "What happened?"_

_"Grodd happened human," a voice snarled and the Martian girl scrambled back as she saw the very beasts that ambushed her and her team. "And Grodd demands your help."_

_"Manners my love," a dark-furred gorilla chided as she lumbered over, raising her hand and shaking M'gann's own. "We desire the human's help. We do not demand it."_

_"I…I'm not human, I'm Martian," M'gann corrected. "Miss Martian."_

_This time a silver gorilla with a white streak came over, "I'm not sure I understand. Our vocabulary expands rapidly, but…there are still gaps."_

_"It's not important."_

_The silver ape nodded, "I am Solovar, the alpha of this troop," he motioned to a blue-black female to his left, "this is my mate Baka," his large palm moved to the Gorilla the had chided the first one earlier, "and this is Primat. And you've met Gorilla Grodd."_

_Tossing an annoyed glance at the massive beast that has tried to crush her, she sighed. She needed answers if she was going to help her team. She remembered what happened more clearly now. And if she was right she'd need their help to rescue them. "But where are we? Why is it so dark? How are you capable of telepathy? Why did you attack us?"_

_Primat gave an amused giggle, "All these questions, all at once, like an infant."_

_"She is young for her species," Baka reminded._

_Solovar stepped forwards, looking grim, "We will try to enlighten you. But time is short. Almost three years ago now, two strangers arrived. An old woman and a thin man with their borrowed shadows and their monster with the hammer-tail. They constructed a single cave of metal, a Kwan-zett hut, to conduct their experiments. They captured Mallah, the youngest of our troop, and operated on his brain. Mallah…was not the same afterwards. He approved, even betrayed his own kind to his knew masters. Good Tolifhar was the first to fall to Mallah and the monster's ambush. They took Tolifhar, they murdered the ape we knew, replacing Tolifhar's brain with the old woman's. the result of that was the abomination, the Ultra Humanite."_

_"But the horror continued," Primat continued. "Ultra Humanite, Mallah, and the monster they call Hardshell extracted the brain from their thin human companion and placed it within a hallow tree stump. This new thing, wished to be completely free from the distractions of the physical. To simply be, The Brain. They built more metal cave and called their new kingdom Gorilla City. It is their little joke, for it was here they have enslaved every gorilla in our troop. Only the Holy One escaped."_

_Baka chimed in, taking over the tale, "From there, they put inhibitor collars on us and performed their enhancement surgery on our brains. We gained intelligence, awareness, sentience…but neither happiness nor our freedom."_

_"More recently, they injected us with their Kobra-Venom. It was very painful, but it made us larger, stronger. And now they are ignorant of our greatest strength, the telepathy their enhancements provided," Grodd huffed slamming his fist on the ground. "Thus they have scattered the seeds of their own end!"_

_"But, you don't have collars now," Miss Martian noticed. "Why do you still aid your oppressors?"_

_"They have an even greater hold on us," Solovar sighed looking down. "Our children."_

_"If we do not obey all commands, their lives are forfeit."_

_M'gann gasped, putting her hands over her mouth, "That's horrible."_

_Grodd huffed again, stepping closer and looming over her. "They have your troop as well. All but one in collars. We will rescue them. You will secure our progeny. And together, you and I—that is, you and Solovar, will lead the revolution."_

_"Wait! I don't lead the team!"_

_Grodd titled his head, "How can that be true? Your mind is clearly the most powerful."_

_That made the Martian blush slightly. She heard her uncle say that many times, but to hear it from someone else…it was different. "Really? You think so?"_

_Grodd did not answered as he growled and turned to the others. "We deal with an underling who cannot guarantee that her alpha nor her monsters will cooperate."_

_"And yet we have no choice but to trust her," Solovar sighed._

_"Monsters?" Miss Martian paused. "What monsters?"_

_Grodd slammed his fist on the ground, "The scaled beast! The one who escaped! Who is like the Hardshell! This one smells of predator! Making it more dangerous that our oppressor's monster! The ones who currently hide with you."_

_M'gann's eyes widened. They…they were talking about her friends: Onyx, Sky. One of them got away and managed to drag her to safety somewhere. "I promise. They won't hurt you."_

_"It better not."_

_"I need to wake up, if I can figure out where my friend and I are, we can group up. Come up with a plan."_

_"Oh," Solovar smirked, "we have a plan."_

-.-

M'gann opened her eyes, sputtering as she was almost smothered in a mess of white fur. Sitting up, the Martian girl sighed, wrapping her arms around the white canine, "Wolf!"

"M'gann!"

Pulling away, she saw Nightmare crouch beside her, looking worried as Indie and Blue crowded around and nudged her with their noses. "I'm fine. Better than fine actually. I have a plan to rescue the team."

Gold eyes blinked at her and Nightmare sat back, "How…how'd did you know?"

"There's some people who wish to help us."

"Can we trust them?"

"Yes."

Nightmare bit his lip. It was obvious, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go through with this with people he didn't know. Even Indie and Blue were shifting in uncertainty at the prospect. From spending time with the raptors on Sorna, she had some time to figure out how the mind of a raptor worked. And if there was one thing she did figure out, it was that they did _not_ trust _outsiders_.

"Onyx," she said putting a hand on his shoulder, "trust me."

"Ok. What's the plan and who are we working with?"

-.-

**Gorilla City, March 4, 00:31CAT**

"What is our plan for these heroes?" Ulta Humanite questioned.

"So many options. Ze brain extraction, ze experiments avec Kobra-Venom, ze B4, and ze Project Cadmus. I suggest we choose…all of ze above!"

"We may want to rethink that," Hardshell stated crossing his arms. "B4 needs to be reconditioned and punished for her betrayal. We can extract intel from the sidekicks. And we still need the Martian and to recapture A1 again. Not to mention we could really hurt the League by keeping their sidekicks hostage."

"Yez, yez, I suppose zis is true. So no brain extractions! But zat does not mean we cannot do other experiments!"

"The most painful?"

"Naturally."

-.-

_"Are we sure this is going to work?"_ Onyx huffed as he clung tightly to Grodd's back as the massive gorilla lumbered through the doors carrying Indie, Blue, and Wolf, effectively using the three "unconscious" animals to hide him from prying eyes.

_"For the last time beast. Grodd will free troop. So retract your claws from my back."_

_"Once I'm not at risk of being caught!"_

_"Stop arguing!"_ M'gann snapped.

Both gave annoyed growls, and Nightmare and Grodd settled into annoyed silence as the massive gorilla lumbered inside through the doors, the guards paying him no mind. Coming to a stop around the corner, Indie lifted his head, allowing Nightmare to happily hop off Grodd. He pressed his nose to Indie's with a reassuring purr and fly up into the rafters above.

"Well, here's your beasts," Ultra Humanite said looking on as Grodd set Wolf, Indie and Blue on the ground. "But where is A1 and the Martian?"

"Le Grodd signs that Solovar and Baka still searches ze brush for A1 and pour elle," the Brain scoffed. "but ze A1 is in his element. It is hard to hunt ze most dangerous ambush predator ever known. Hardshell?"

"Yes?"

"Summon ze squad. Rogue has proven to yield ze best results when handling A1."

Above them, Onyx growled. Next time he saw that white-scaled pain in the ass he was going to tear her apart. Shaking his head, he carefully crawled along the beams. Once he got into an ideal position, he looked towards his team. They were unconscious, or at least feigning unconsciousness. Or well, Robin was, he could see him fiddling with his cuffs.

Nightmare chewed the inside of his cheek. He needed to figure out how to get his teammate's attention.

_"Grodd, the human was successful. Boka and Primat have the infants. Be ready."_

_"Grodd is always ready. I cannot say the same for the monster."_

_"Onyx," _M'gann pleaded sensing his rising anger.

With a low growl, the hybrid crawled along the roof, trying to think of a plan. A plan, that wouldn't end with giving him and Robin away.

The cuffs on his teammate's wrists came undone and the Boy Wonder landed on the ground silently as the group continued their debate and moved to hide. Unfortunately, Nightmare didn't get the chance to follow before his friend's escapade had been noticed.

"THE BOY WONDER! HE'S GONE!"

"Shit."

"Comment c'est possible?! Ze door is sealed! Where could he have gone?"

Smoke exploded throughout the room and Nightmare switched to thermal. It didn't take long to spot his friend through the smoke. He threw something, hitting Grodd, and forcing him to grab his rope. That ape was not going to be happy about that. Throwing his lasso, he got one of his friend's legs and lumped over one of the higher beams. Yanking on the rope, Robin gave a startled yelp as he was yanked off his feet.

"I know I'm gonna get heat later for that _Dick _move, but you really need to pay more attention."

Stopping his flailing, Robin stared wide eyed as Onyx crouched in front of him. "Was that pun really necessary?"

"Well, it wasn't like I could get your attention any other way," Nightmare argued letting him down. "Now look, it may be hard to believe, but long story short the big angry ball of fur down there you just electrocuted is on our side."

"Oops."

"You can apologize later. He has telepathy."

"You distract and I get the inhibitor collars?" Robin smirked.

"Is that not usually how this goes?" Nightmare deadpanned.

"Just seeing if you remembered!" Robin cackled leaping off.

Rolling his eyes, Nightmare dove after him. Grabbing his lasso, he grabbed Hardshell by the tail and and pulled. The other hybrid slammed onto the ground as his feet came out from under him and he was pulled into the air. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw Nightmare.

The other hybrid's fist collided with his jaw and Hardshell slammed onto the ground, nearly crushing the Brain.

_"Hey guys,"_ Robin greeted landing in front of the others and quickly pulling Superboy's inhibitor collar off.

_"Miss Martian is back in range?"_

_"Obviously! I can hear you!"_ Artemis smirked.

Yanking himself out of the wall, Conner ripped his cuffs off before assisting Robin in freeing his friends. _"No, it doesn't feel right. It's not M'gann!"_

_"No it's not. This is Grodd linking us up,"_ Robin answered, freeing Remix. _"this big ape currently helping Nightmare."_

_"Wow…this is a first,"_ KF remarked.

"Ventilators have finally kicked in."

"And I have summoned ze reinforcements."

"Good cause you're gonna need 'em!" Remix smirked raising her weapon.

"Oh Skylar, are you sure about that," Hardshell smirked stepping aside to reveal the rest of the troop, holding a seemingly unconscious M'gann. "Solovar will wring her neck if you don't surrender."

"I have something to tell you Reikoku," Skylar smirked, "VIVA LA REVOLUTION BITCH!" Hurling her Morningstar, she hit her former teammate in the face.

And with that all chaos broke loose.

Transforming into a gorilla, M'gann helped Solovar restrain Mallah as Superboy leapt forwards, decking the traitor, knocking his beret off. _M'gann! Do you have to take that form? You know I hate monkeys!"_

_"But it seems so appropriate,"_ she smiled using her telekinesis to hurl Mallah through several shadows.

_"And do not call us monkeys, human. You might as well state your hatred for all primates!"_

_"Don't give him ideas!"_ Wally laughed racing by snatching the weapons out of the assassins' hands leaving them to be tackled by a very angry, Blue, Wolf, or Grodd.

"MY OPTICAL SENSORS! IMBECILES! YOU CANNOT BLIND ZE BRAIN!"

"No but I can make you his lunch," Robin laughed as Indie tackled the Brain.

Indie gave an annoyed growl as the infernal trashcan tried to shock him. But that pain was minor compared to the burns he got in the lab, and when he accidently startled his brother. But Nightmare was always apologetic afterwards an would almost refuse to leave for an hour, so it was worth it. But this trashcan. It was not pack. So it needed to go where it belonged. Biting down on the arm, he ripped if off, getting rid of the shocker. With that out of the way, he was now free to bite through the glass dome to get the treat inside.

_"HIS IS FOR TOLIFHAR HUMAN!" _Grodd screamed slamming Ultra Humanite back with his fists. Baring his fangs, he lumbered forwards, glancing as he saw the blue-striped beast circling. Grodd growled. This kill was his, but at least he was not the monster's prey.

"Brain! The apes! They are telepathic!" Humanite snarled shoving Grodd off her as she ducked under the raptor's leap.

"Indeed! Un developpement interessant. Mais zis is not ze time for study!" the replied trying to get away from the raptor gnawing on him. "Attention revolutionnaires! I have activated ze self-destruct! La Ville de Gorille is doomed! Vous avez cinq minutes!"

_"Everyone! Fall back!" _Kaldur ordered.

-.-

**Bwunda, 04:15CAT**

"That was different," Skylar stretched as the strode towards the Bioship.

"I'll say, Telepathic Gorillas," Wally smirked. "But look what I got!" he raised Mallah's beret, "Souvenir!"

"Didn't you get the other one the last time we fought them?" Artemis questioned.

"Aw man…oh well, it still counts!"

"Who cares, he has like fifty berets!"

"Oh, by the way, Viva la Revolution?" Artemis smirked.

Skylar blushed, crossing her arms, "It seemed suitable!"

"Oh it was!" Robin laughed. "Did you see his face?"

Onyx snorted, "Priceless."

"I know. Wish I gotta pic. Would've been a better souvenir than another lice-filled beret!"

"I heard that you dick!" Wally called causing Robin to laugh.

"I'll just be glad when we all get home away from all these monkeys."

"Aw, they aren't that bad!" M'gann smiled. "The babies are really cute!"

"That may be, but I'm with Conner, I don't like being called beast the whole time," Onyx muttered. "And neither did Indie and Blue."

"See!" Conner pointed at him, "Monkeys are mean!"

"Is this an argument that we're actually about to have? Cause if so, let me get my video camera."

"I'm just curious on how this is all going to be explained to Batman," Kaldur sighed tiredly.


	43. Dark Deals

Chapter 42

**A/H: hey guys, welcome back. Hope y'all're still enjoying the story and that it's kinda helping getting y'all through quarantine. I know it's keeping me from losing my complete sanity. Anyways, here's the next chapter, hope y'all like it. Remember, I just own my OCs.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**D.C. April 16, 13:21EST**

Onyx yawned as he sat in class. God, why was history so boring? Sure the relics and stuff were cool, but when it came to going over Ancient Greece, well…he literally lived with people who lived during that time and saw everything. Basically, most of the heroes were jerks and the gods had zero chill. That was what he got from his grandmother's lectures.

"So, your project is to determine how the legends of powerful women in ancient societies could have helped influence the modern women's rights movement," the teacher droned on. "Mr. Bauer will be partnered with Ms. Kurenai, you two will be researching Joan of Arc. Ms. Gamorra, Ms. Chang, you both are assigned Mulan—the real one not the Disney one!"

"There's a real Mulan?" someone muttered.

"Mr. Royce, Mr. Stan, you two have the Goddess Artemis."

"Aw man."

Tossing a warning look to the complaining teen over his glasses, their teacher turned his attention back to his paper. "Ms. Kapatelis, you and Prince Onyx are covering Medusa."

Hearing his name, the hybrid took a moment to process what had been said. Medusa? The gorgon? The same one who turned people to stone? How was she supposed to have any possible influence?

"Hey," a hand tapped on his shoulder and Onyx turned to look at a girl sitting right next to him. "You're Onyx right?"

"The one and only?"

She gave a small smile, "You don't sound too sure. Anyways, I'm Vanessa, Vanessa Kapatelis. We're supposed to be working together."

"Oh, nice to meet you," he smiled shaking her hand.

"So, do you wanna get a head start? I'm pretty sure this project shouldn't take us too long."

"It's Medusa? I don't really see how she could have anything to do with women's rights," he remarked raising a brow.

"You'd actually be surprised," Vanessa replied. She reached into her bag, pulling out a book. She opened it, flipping through the pages before stopping at one. "Did you know that in some places, that where there was carving of Medusa's head, it was considered a safe haven for women?"

"Really?" he asked grabbing his chair and pulling it up to her desk.

"Yep, and when her name's translated, it actually means Guardian or Protectress in ancient Greek." Vanessa continued.

"But Gorgon means terrible…I think," Onyx hesitantly pointed out. "Medusa was one of the three gorgons."

"True, but I guess her role depends on the version of the story you look at. For example—" the bell rang, cutting the redhead off and she sighed, shoving her books back into her bag. "Guess I'll see you later then."

Onyx blinked as he saw her roll out from behind her desk in a wheelchair. "Hey, uh, maybe…do you wanna meet after school. To get started on the project?"

"Sure, works for me, I don't have any plans."

"Awesome. I'll see you later then."

-.-

**16:05EST**

"You sure your mom won't mind?" Onyx asked opening the door and letting Vanessa lead the way in.

"Not at all," she smiled rolling inside. "Besides she won't be off work for a few more hours. We have plenty of time. Is your mother cool with this?"

"She should be. She hasn't responded to my text, which either means she's in a meeting, on a mission, or she's fine with it."

"Wow. Wish my mom was that relaxed with me," Vanessa grimaced rubbing her leg. "Ever since…"

Onyx glanced at her, looking at the girl in the wheelchair before looking at a picture on the wall with said girl standing beside her mother. "If…if you don't mind: what happened?"

Vanessa looked at him and the hybrid immediately regretted his question. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me."

"It's fine," she said, "you remember those big evil plants the Joker set lose on the world? Well, I was going shopping with my mom, and our car crashed."

"Sorry I couldn't help," Onyx apologized sitting on the couch next to her.

"It's fine, you were probably out saving the world. Even heroes can't save everyone," she shrugged looking away from him. After a moment, she wheeled herself over to the bookshelf, "We should get started on our project. My mom works for the Smithsonian, she's an expert in ancient cultures. I'm sure she has some of the texts about Ancient Greek lore here somewhere."

"Do you want help?"

"I can handle myself!" she replied. "Here it is." Pulling out a book, Vanessa came back over setting the book on the coffee table and opening it. "So, like I was saying before class ended. Medusa translates to Guardian or Protector. And there's evidence of her face being shown on the outside of women's shelters in the past. So I think many people misinterpret the story, and they forget major parts, like here," she pointed to a passage, "it says here that Medusa was a follower of Athena, whom, as many legends say, didn't have relationships. Is that right?"

"I think so?"

"You're an Amazon. Shouldn't you know your own gods?"

"My mom's gods, not mine," he replied. "To me, they're just overpowered relatives that took things way too far."

"That must make holidays interesting," Vanessa remarked, getting a shrug from her partner.

"We do fine." Leaning over, Onyx looked over the book, "So, assuming that followers of Athena didn't have relationships with men. It would make sense that one of her followers would be used as a symbol to safety. However, that doesn't explain how she went from human to gorgon?"

"Well…that's where interpretation comes into play. Some believe she was born a gorgon like her sisters. While others believe this version of the story: the one where she was raped by Poseidon in the temple and impregnated."

"And I'm guessing Athena didn't like that, so she turned her into a gorgon," Onyx sighed, kneading his claws. God, he really was starting to hate his…grandfather's side of the family. Seems like they could do nothing but screw people over for their own amusement.

"That's where interpretation comes into play," Vanessa spoke up. "Some argue that Athena was punishing her, but others argue that she was protecting her. By giving Medusa her powers, she enabled her to be able to defend herself so she wouldn't be used again."

"Which is where the women's rights movement could get the idea to speak up for themselves. If she was seen as a figure of protection, they could view it as a way to choose what relationships they want and use it as an argument for governing their own bodies?"

"And since she's normally painted as the villain, we can argue that perspective determines the story. Cause many men saw Medusa as a monster when all she was doing was protecting herself after what happened."

"Wow, this was a lot easier than I thought it'd be," Onyx chuckled.

"Told, you just depended on the story."

The creak of a door caught his attention and Onyx perked up as he saw an older woman with pale blonde hair walk into the living room, "Vanessa…" she began trailing off as her gaze landed on him.

"Hi mom. This is Prince Onyx, we have a class project together. Onyx, this is my mom."

"Nice to meet you ma'am," he smiled standing up.

"Well…it-it's a pleasure to meet you too Your Highness, I apologize for the mess. We weren't expecting company," the woman gaped. "Vanessa, why didn't you tell me we had royalty coming over?"

"Uh…"

A knock came from the door and the woman sighed, holding up her hand. "Hold that thought," she left the living room and Onyx stiffened as a familiar scent reached his nose.

"Onyx Steven Trevor."

Gulping the teen gave a shy smile as his own mother stood in the doorway with Mrs. Kapatelis. "Hi Mom."

"Did you intend to give Artemis and Donna heart attacks?!"

"I messaged you!"

"They've been worried sick!" Diana scolded. Turning to the woman beside her, the Amazon Princess gave a tired smile. "I am so sorry for my rude behavior, I'm Princess Diana."

"Hi!" Vanessa's mom grinned eagerly taking her hand, "I'm Dr. Julia Kapatelis."

"From the Smithsonian? Your works on identifying ancient relics and your thesis on Ancient cultures are incredible."

"Thank you! Ancient Greece has always been one of my favorites."

"You think if we snuck out they'd notice?" Vanessa spoke up.

"I don't want to find out."

"I must insist you both stay for dinner! It would be wonderful to have you as our guests!"

"I don't want to impose."

"Well, it looks like the children have a project anyways."

"We aren't children!"

"I would love to, but unfortunately, Nightmare and I have an assignment," Diana apologized.

"A mission?!" Onyx grinned standing up.

"Yes, now, we should hurry. The faster we get this done, the faster you can get back to work on your project."

"Right," Onyx smiled. "Can I see your phone?"

"Uh?" Vanessa raised a brow as he held out his.

"Put your number in mine, and I put mine in yours. This we can still hang out when I finish this."

"Hang out? It's just a project?"

"Oh…so you do not wish to be friends?" he questioned.

"What? No!" she exclaimed before facepalming. "I mean, I wouldn't mind."

"Awesome! I don't have any non-hero friends! So you're the first!" he grinned before tapping his chin. "Well, there are the Markovian Princes? But I do not know if they are friends or if they just think I am cool since I'm a superhero…Either way, it will be fun!"

"You're weird."

"Where's the fun in being normal?"

"Onyx!" Diana called.

"Coming! See you later!" Racing out the door, he took off into air following after his mother.

"So, who was that?" Diana inquired.

"Vanessa, we have the same history class," he answered. "We got assigned a project together."

"What about?"

"Women's rights. Our teacher wants us to see if we can determine if they were influenced by ancient legends of powerful women," he explained.

"And what legend did you get?"

"Medusa."

Diana came to a stop, grabbing her son's arm. "Medusa!"

"Yeah. Is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry, it's just our people do not have a good history with the gorgons."

"Wait, they're real!"

"They were very real," she confirmed. "We helped Perseus kill Medusa's sisters. For turning hundreds of innocents into stone."

"Is it true though? What Poseidon did to her?"

"It was," she nodded. "And it was not her fault. We did not blame her for that. What we did blame her for was turning hundreds of innocent people to stone. Men, women, children, who'd done nothing wrong. That's why we helped."

"That's…sad," he replied looking down.

"I know, I wish it did not go that way, but our people had no choice. Otherwise hundreds more would've perished at the hands of the gorgons," Diana sighed putting a hand on her son's shoulder. "Some time's…you have to make a choice, even if it's hard. Even though we try. We can't save everyone."

Nightmare looked down again, his shoulders slumping, "I know."

"Come on, we should go, Batman's waiting for us."

-.-

**Hall of Justice, 18:45EST**

"So what's the emergency?" Diana asked as she and her son strode into the library where Batman and Robin sat waiting for them.

"I've intercepted some emails from one of the employees of Cale Pharmaceuticals, they're planning to sell one of their rare artifacts tonight."

"Artifacts? What does an ancient artifact have to do with medicine?"

Batman turned, raising a brow, "Ancient artifacts can be beneficial in research. Such as the discovery of velociraptor DNA which was used to create you."

"Oh."

"However, it is the nature of the artifact that concerns me," he replied typing on the computer. An image came up, showing a relic in the shape of a snake.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Unfortunately not," Robin grimaced. "Looks like Kobie's reared his ugly mug again. You think he'd wait longer after what happened with his brother?"

"Unless whatever that thing is, is really important to him," Onyx muttered crossing his arms.

"Given what happened in February, we need to take the threat of the Cult of the Cobra more seriously," Batman continued. "If Kobra's searching for relics again, he must've found a way to restore his 'godhood.'"

-.-

**D.C. 23:45EST**

Julia Kapatelis took a shaky breath as she strode inside the dark warehouse, clutching a box close to her chest. If her boss found out what she was doing…shaking her head, the blonde woman walked forwards. She had to do this, this was the one way she could get her daughter back to her old self. Back before that accident took away her child's future.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Well, it's about time," a deep voice spoke and the woman took a step back as a man with deathly pale skin and red eyes stepped out with several red-hooded men by his side and one woman with red hair in an orange and black outfit. "Don't you know it is rude to keep a god waiting?"

"Who—who are you?" the woman gasped stembling back, glancing around as more of the cultists appeared. "I—I came here to trade, with Dr. Cyber."

"I am aware," the man spoke. "Like me, she does not like to stoop to conquer what's beneath her. However, I am willing to come her, because you have the artifact we desire."

"She promised—"

"If you want your wishes granted, hand over the artifact so I may see that it's real."

Gulping slightly, she opened the box, revealing the artifact inside. A smile flashed across Kobra's face before he looked up, narrowing his eyes. "The heroes are here. We've been double-crossed. Kill her and take the artifact!"

**A/N: hey y'all. Hope it was an enjoyable chapter. I know it was a little slow, but I did kinda wanna focus on some more mundane things before we get into the thick of it. Hope to hear y'all's reviews and see y'all next chapter!"**


	44. Consequences

Chapter 43

**A/N: hey guys welcome back! Good to see y'all again. Now, as usual, I just own my OCs. I don't own anything from DC or Jurassic Park. I'm just pulling on their stuff to write my own ideas.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashback_**

**D.C. April 16, 23:50EST**

Gunfire echoed around Nightmare as he dove through the window behind his mother. Taking in the situation, gold eyes widened as he recognized Vanessa's mother, a brief case clutched close to her chest as his mother deflected the incoming bullets.

Shaking his head, the hybrid growled, pulling out his lasso. He didn't have time to worry about what she was doing here, right now the priority was Kobra and his goons. Throwing the rope, he caught one of their guns, yanking on it and swinging the weapon into another cultist, knocking him over.

"Careful you idiots! You'll damage the artifact!" Kobra snarled.

"Kobra," Batman spoke as he and Robin appeared from the shaodws, "surrender."

"Gods do not take orders," the man growled. Waving his hand, a redheaded woman stepped forwards, injecting herself with something. Before their eyes, she grew over two stories tall.

"Giganta," Wonder Woman muttered.

"You know her?" her son murmured.

"She's one of my regular adversaries, she's supposed to be in Belle Reve."

"Are we sure their security's good?" he questioned.

The giant gave a roar and the teen used his lasso to grab his mother and Dr. Kapatelis. The ground shook as her foot landed on where the two women had been previously standing.

Seeing movement to his right, Nightmare turned sparks flying off his gauntlets as he blocked the incoming fire. "Rob! Could use a hand over here!"

There was a cackle for nearby and smoke erupted around the firing cultists. Switching to thermal, the hybrid lunged, punching the men stumbling through the haze. Picking one up, he swung him into another before hurling him at Giganta, causing the woman to stumble in surprise before his mother delivered another uppercut upon her distraction. Running out of the smoke, he switched back to regular, catching a glimpse of red and yellow, no doubt his friend escorting the doctor to safety.

The building shook as Wonder Woman ended up punching Giganta's head through the roof. The giant woman yelled pulling herself back down and swinging at her. Using her other hand, she swatted his mother aside slamming her into the wall, cracks spreading out behind her from the impact.

"Mom!" Onyx called. Seeing Giganta turn towards her he growled and leapt off the ground. Flying by, he clawed her face, causing her head to snap to the side as several cuts marred her cheek. The giant villainess bared her teeth at him, eyes seething with rage.

Before she could strike, a flash of red and blue slammed into her, and Wonder Woman grabbed fistfuls of red hair, yanking her into a beam before slamming her head down to the ground. Now unconscious, the woman shrank down to regular size as the two heroes landed. "No one, hurts my son," Diana warned. Turning to him, Onyx flushed as she brushed some of his hair back. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

"Shouldn't I be asking that? I'm not the one she threw into a wall."

Diana raised a brow and crossed her arms. "And as your mother, it's my job to worry about you, especially when fighting her for the first time."

"Well, as the saying goes: The bigger they are, the more they fall down!" he quoted.

"It's actually the harder they fall," Diana corrected with a chuckle.

The teen blushed, smiling nervously, "Oh."

Suddenly, he was pushed out of the way, and several bullets were deflected off his mother's gauntlets. Spotting the cultists, Nightmare flew forwards punching one of them back as Robin landed behind the other knocking the weapon out of his hand before spin kicking him in the head.

"That should be all of them," Robin huffed.

"Good," Diana nodded. "Kobra?"

"Got away, with the artifact."

"Not this again."

"Where's Batman?"

Robin opened his mouth to answer only to be stopped by Nightmare running in the exact direction his mentor was. Right, smell…oh, shit. Eyes widening he ran after his friend stopping behind him as he stopped staring down at Julia Kapatelis, as Batman worked to stop the blood pouring from her side.

"Oh gods," Wonder Woman gasped. "What happened?"

"She was shot twice in the abdomen," Batman replied curtly, grimacing as more blood collected underneath the woman. She was looking blood too fast, the ambulance wouldn't make it in time. "Wonder Woman, I'll need you to fly her to the nearest hospital. She can't wait for an ambulance."

"Of course," she said kneeling down to pick up the woman when her eyes widened. Looking at Bruce, she realized he noticed the same thing. She stopped breathing. Quickly the pair of them began CPR, if they could get her breathing again, they could get her to the hospital to save her life.

Unfortunately, ten minutes later, despite all their efforts, Dr. Julia Kapatelis was pronounced dead.

-.-

**April 17, 00:10EST**

Vanessa rolled to the window of her house, checking outside. Biting her lip, the girl began to feel concerned. Her mother left almost an hour ago for an errand and said she'd be right back. She didn't understand, why would her mother go out this late out night? Hopefully she wasn't involved in anything bad. She'd been acting so different ever since…the girl sighed, rubbing her knee. She just wanted things to go back to the way they used to be.

A knock came from the door, and the young teen froze. Who would be knocking this late at night? What if it was a criminal? What if it was the police? Did something happen to her mom?

Biting her lip, the girl wheeled herself too the door. She couldn't see out of the peephole so she'd just have to hope whoever was on the other side had no ill intentions. Slowly opening the door, her eyes widened as she saw the woman who contracted her mom. "Dr. Cale? What're you doing here?" she asked opening the door fully.

"Your mom sent me."

"She's not home right now," she replied closing the door a bit.

"I know."

"What're you doing here then?"

"We've been working on something, something that might help you walk again my dear. All you need to do, is come with me."

Vanessa swallowed, backing away. This…this didn't seem right. "W-walk? That's impossible. And if this were true, why didn't my mother come to get me herself?"

"She wanted it to be a surprise, to be honest we weren't sure it was going to work. And now that we are, you could be dancing in Swan Lake again as soon as tomorrow."

Vanessa bit her lip, "How do I know my mom sent you?"

The blonde woman smiled, cleaning her glasses, "Cautious, smart girl. Your mother always did say you were brilliant. But I promise, I swore to your mother that I would get you walking again. She did something for me, and I am going to repay that favor. Consider it a doctor's honor."

Reluctantly, Vanessa nodded. Her mother always did say that things would get better. So she supposed that doing something for Dr. Cale would lead to it, after all, she only started working for the company after the crash. Maybe it was a way to pay for whatever operation they were planning. Wheeling herself out the door, she closed it behind her, following the woman to her car.

She stopped outside of it, trying to figure out how to get in. It didn't have a place for her wheelchair, and she didn't trust herself to try to crawl into the car. "Oh my dear, you won't need that," Cale spoke, snapping her fingers, the young girl yelped as the driver's door opened, revealing a tall man. He came over, scooping her out of her wheelchair and into the car, slamming the door.

A lump formed in her throat. What if she just made a terrible mistake?

Warmth came from her right and the girl jumped slightly as Dr. Cale slid into the seat beside her. "I am sorry for calling you in here so late, but I did make a promise to your mother. One I intend to keep."

"Where is my mom?" Vanessa inquired tapping her knees as the car began moving. Oh God, what if she really did just fall for a kidnapping scheme? Her mother would be so worried when she got home!

The woman's eyes almost appeared to soften. "Vanessa, I'm afraid I have some bad news. Your mother died earlier tonight."

Vanessa paled, feeling her stomach drop and heart stop. "No…no…that can't be—"

"I'm afraid it is. She was killed by a ricochet in a fight with the heroes," Cale spoke. Grabbing a remote, she turned on the screen. Blue eyes could only stare as she watched Wonder Woman and Nightmare fight bad guys, neither one of her heroes noticed her mother getting shot.

"They…they were right there! They could've saved her!" the girl began crying.

"I know, life is so unfair. Especially since it was Wonder Woman's fault she was there in the first place."

"W-what?"

"The League hired your mother to stage an illegal artifacts trade to lure out one of their bad guys. Obviously, it didn't go well as you saw."

The redhead girl leaned back, looking at the footage. She could see her mother lying on the ground, blood pooling beside her while the heroes fought the bad guys, completely unaware to their informant's plight. They were heroes, heroes were supposed to save lives. So why the hell would they bring her mother in on something so dangerous?

"You know, the surgery I promised your mother, it could do so much more than let you walk again," Cale spoke.

"What do you mean?" she asked turning to the woman.

"All you have to do is agree to do what I say, and you will have all the power you'll ever need. Power to save those you love from suffering a fate like this again. Are you in?"

Tears running down her face, the girl looked at the image of her mother. Fresh tears began to run down her cheek, now feeling hot with anger. "I'm in."

"Good."

-.-

Onyx landed outside Vanessa's house, running to the door, he began pounding on it. "Vanessa! Vanessa! Open up! It's me! Onyx! You're friend from school! I know it's late! But please open up! Something bad's happened!"

Hearing nothing from the other side of the door, Onyx gently grabbed the knob, doubting it was open. Everyone locked their doors considering crime in the city.

So when the knob turned and the door swung open, he was rather worried. "Vanessa?"

He gulped, cautiously stepping inside. The lights were still on, and the tv was too. Moving up the stairs he switched to thermal, trying to see if he could spot the girl in her room or somewhere else. She was nowhere in the house.

Reaching up to his comm, the teen couldn't hide his panic, "Mom. I can't find Vanessa."

-.-

**Qurac, 16:34EST**

Metal gates creaked open as two military Humvee's pulled up in front of a compound. The two cars stopped, seeing a cloaked figure on the other side waiting. A passenger door opened on the lead car, and a man in a military uniform got out, stepping towards her. "We have a delivery for the Doctor. Step aside girl. You're standing between me and a lot of money."

"Dr. Cyber instructed me to accept the delivery," the girl answered. "And as for your payment…" she swung her arm and blood spattered on the ground as the man throat was gouged, "I'd say it's no longer your concern."

The soldier sputtered, holding his neck trying to stop the blood. "Who—who are you?"

The young woman dropped her cloak and the men stared as a young girl in silver armor with large wings stood before them. She smirked before releasing a cry that blasted the rest of the men away and sent the trucks flipping over. Strolling over, she grabbed the package. "You can call me: Silver Swan."


	45. Ancient History

Chapter 44

**A/N: hey y'all! I'm back! Good to hear from y'all! Remember, I just own the story and my OCs. That's it, sadly. Otherwise this totally would've happened in canon. Alas, it did not, so here I am!**

**/comms/**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**April 27, Mt. Justice, 13:45EST**

Onyx's knuckles stung as the teen panted, settling into a fighting stance in front of the reinforced punching bag. Throwing another punch, there was a slight shockwave from the impact, sending it swinging back on its chain. As it began to come back towards him, the hybrid threw another punch, this time causing the chain to snap as the punching bag collided with the gym wall, leaving cracks in it.

"Oh yeah Baywatch, like you'll be able to…" Artemis' voice trailed off and the hybrid could hear the speedster and archer stop at the entrance of the gym. "Onyx?"

Giving a small grunt of acknowledgement, he went over and picked up the punching bag. Walking it over to its corner, he set it against the wall before going to the bench to grab his water bottle.

"Hey? You all right dude?" Wally asked as he walked by them, setting a hand on his shoulder.

Nightmare sighed, glancing away, "Fine."

"You don't seem fine," Artemis deadpanned.

Releasing a warning growl, he shrugged Wally off, "I said it's fine!" He stormed away from the gym, rubbing his bruised knuckles. Yeah, sure, he was fine. How wasn't he? Wasn't like he got a friend's mother killed and her kidnapped apparently? No, everything was perfectly fine.

"Geez, looks like training went well," a familiar cackle came from above. Growling at his lack of attention, Onyx crossed his arms and glared at Robin as he landed in front of him. "What? Don't get mad at me? I'm just saying what's true. I mean, Aunt Diana just went berserk on training robots at the hall. If she kept it up I think we would've had an uprising."

Onyx raised a brow, crossing his arms. "What's going on this time?"

Pouting that his joke didn't get so much as an amused smirk from his teammate, the Boy Wonder pulled up a file, "We found her, Vanessa Kapatelis. Security feeds from the Qurac Border show her there. Seems like she's linked to the smuggling to tech, medical equipment, and artifacts all linked to Dr. Cyber and Kobra."

"What's she doing with them?"

"Maybe they kidnapped her? Made her work for them? I mean, Kobra's been an ally of the Light in the past. What if this is another of their plans? They could be controlling her somehow," Robin pointed out.

"True, so what's the plan?"

-.-

**April 28, Qurac, 01:22**

"We have enough fuel to hover for an hour," Wonder Woman stated.

"Worried?" Onyx questioned.

"We don't know what's waiting for us down there, so yes," Diana stated.

Nightmare leapt out of the invisible jet. He flew over to two unsuspecting guards grabbing their heads and bashing them together, knocking them out. Wonder Woman flew by, punching another guard. Pulling the unconscious man aside, she crouched on the roof, giving a motion after a moment.

The pair flew down into a small courtyard, quickly moving towards one of the entrances. "Can you open it?"

"Uh, maybe," Nightmare winced. He carefully dug a claw in behind the panel, pulling on it. It popped out, revealing a mess of wires. "Ok…I'm not Robin, but I think it might be this one." Grabbing a wire, he pulled on it smirking as the door slid open. "Hey, that worked."

"Good job!" Wonder Woman praised as she led the way inside.

A screen came on at the end of the hall, revealing the image of a violet, almost cobra-like head. "You really think I wouldn't notice you breaking into my compound?" a distorted female voice spoke. In front of them, the ground opened and a gun began to rise out of the ground. "You really should have stayed away."

It opened fired on them and Wonder Woman blocked the incoming bullets as Nightmare grabbed his lasso. Tossing the rope, he grabbed the gun and yanked it out of its perch, hurling it into another one as it began to emerge from the wall.

He pulled his rope back to him, fastening it back to his hip as he ran after. Turning the corner, he could see his mother break down a door. "This way!"

-.-

Alarms rang around them as the cultists moved the project towards one of the jets. One approached Kobra, holding up a pad as Dr. Cyber appeared on it. "Inner walls are breached. Tick tock, tick tock."

The cult leader narrowed his eyes, looking towards her, "Give us time to get in the air. If we lose it we will never be able to execute the plan."

"Got it," Silver Swan nodded.

Kobra looked back to the pad as one of his followers lifted it again, "She's not ready. Not without all the upgrades."

"As if that matters to me," he said. "She is willing to die for a god, she will be honored. Especially in the defense of our greatest weapon."

-.-

Nightmare roundhouse kicked a guard in the face. Picking him up, he swung him into one of his comrades, sending them flying down the hall. A muffled sound came through and Onyx hissed. It was a jet engine. "Wonder Woman!"

"I hear it," she replied punching a guy into next week. "It's at the end of this hall."

Nodding, Nightmare lifted off the ground and flew towards the door. He threw a punch, denting the heavy metal and sending it falling down to the ground.

On the other side, they could see a jet taking off into the air, and a cloaked figure standing between them. Sniffing the air, Nightmare froze. He knew that scent, it smelled…different, but he knew it. "Vanessa?"

"Vanessa's dead," she replied. The girl moved and the fabric hiding her ripped. Long silver wings tore apart the cloak, revealing a girl covered in silver armor. Flapping them, she smirked as she looked at them, "It's Silver Swan now."

She dove down towards them, and Onyx grunted as his mother pushed him out of the way. Vanessa rammed her into a tank, a strange green liquid spilling out. He raced over, tackling his friend off his mother.

"Vanessa, why are you doing this?"

"You got my mother killed!" she snarled. She swiped at him with her claws, and Nightmare leapt back.

"What? No we didn't!" he argued.

She growled at him, shooting over. sparks flew off his gauntlet as he parried her strike. Spinning around, he attempted to use his tail to knock her off her feet. However, she simply flapped her wings, avoiding his strike. As he turned around, Nightmare grunted as a powerful punch knocked him to the ground. Claws wrapped around his throat, and he grabbed at them fighting back old memories as he was lifted off the ground. "Really? Cyber and Kobra showed me the footage. They told me everything. My mother wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for heroes like you!"

The vice like grip on his throat suddenly left and Nightmare fell to his knees as he gasped as air returned to his lungs. Looking over, he could see his mother throw Vanessa into a wall, dust and cracks erupting from the impact. The girl groaned, collapsing to the ground hopefully unconscious.

"Is she ok?" he coughed.

"Just knocked out," Diana replied picking her up and walking over. Setting the girl down, Diana gently grabbed his chin, tilting his head up. "Are you ok little hunter?"

"F-fine," he managed giving a weak smile. From the look on her face, his mother didn't believe a word of it. "So what are we going to do now?"

Wonder Woman frowned, looking down at the girl. After a moment, she reached up to her ear to tap her comm, "Batman, we have her. But we need medical, somewhere with high tech, with high security and biotech expertise."

-.-

**Washington DC, 17:34EST**

"Well, Batman, Wonder Woman, and her sidekick themselves," Veronica Cale smiled. "I'm gonna be honest, when I first got your call I thought it was joke. Never dreamed someone as illustrious as yourselves would grace my door, let alone with the daughter of one of my employees." Looking away from the unconscious girl, the woman smiled and held out her hand, "Veronica Cale."

"A pleasure to meet you Dr. Cale," Wonder Woman greeted shaking her hand.

"What's wrong with her?" Batman cut in, motioning to the girl.

"Man, rumors are true, you don't like beating around the bush," the woman chuckled. "Anyways, the issue is that these implants, aren't implants at all," she turned to a screen activating the data feed, "it's basically a techno-organic virus. This wasn't grafted onto her, she's being turning into it from the inside out and it's still going on. The biggest problem: there doesn't seem to be an off switch."

"What does that mean?" Nightmare asked.

Dr. Cale sighed, "This virus will keep replacing her till there's nothing left."

"Killing her in the process," Wonder Woman concluded.

"In theory, I could heal her. It might be impossible to remove what's already integrated into her, but we could at least stop the virus from spreading. But we don't have the time and I don't have the tech," Cale continued.

"Themiscyra does," Wonder Woman spoke crossing her arms. "The purple healing ray."

Cale meanwhile, chuckled, putting her hands on her hips, "Well, if it's so easy, why'd you need to come here? You out of free miles on your rewards card?"

"Because we didn't know what we were dealing with," Batman stated. "How long does she have?"

Cale, bit her lip, turning to the chart, "From the way this is progressing, I'd give her…maybe a week."

The Bat nodded, his eyes narrowing a bit. "I know that look," Wonder Woman sighed. "What is it?"

"We need to know what exactly Dr. Cyber and Kobra are planning," he said. "From what I found, it seems like they're almost finished creating a weapon of mass destruction."

"Gods," Diana rubbed the bridge of her nose.

Cale frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. "I think I have something that may be able to help," she offered. "Follow me." She lead the way out of her office and down a hall. Grabbing her keys, she unlocked a door, opening it. "This was Dr. Kapatelis's office. She kept hundreds of records of ancient cultures, particularly Ancient Greece. And, I figured, if the Amazons are real, what of other Greek legends? Perhaps there's a way to find what you need? Good luck."

-.-

**20:13EST**

"Any luck?" Diana asked sighing as she put down another file.

"Not much," Batman said typing on the computer. "I find it impressive that Dr. Kapatelis could navigate this mess."

"Is the World's Greatest Detective stumped?" the Amazonian woman smirked.

"Hardly, once you figure out the thought process it's easy to filter through what's pertinent to our investigation."

"Mom? What's the Temple of…Pasaphae?" Onyx spoke up.

"Pasiphae?" Diana perked up going over. "She's a goddess associated with mazes. She's said to help people see the future. If her shrine's still intact, it could give us a clue as to what Kobra and Cyber are planning."

-.-

**Greece, April 29, 02:21**

"This is a cave," Onyx said.

"Yes," Diana nodded.

"This is a cave, in the mountains," he repeated as the jet flew through the maze of stalactites and stalagmites, "are you sure we're in the right place?"

"Yes, Onyx, we're in the right place," she replied as he jet landed. The ramp descended with a hiss, and the heroine motioned as they walked out, "See?"

Inside the walls of the cave, a temple stood carved into the stone.

"Wow…I have so many questions," Nightmare muttered. A scent reached his nose, and he sighed, "But they'll have to wait. We have company."

"Where?"

Pointing up, they could all hear heavy footsteps as someone approached. Mere moments later, they could see Mammoth's massive form outlined in the moonlight.

"I am really starting to doubt Belle Reve's security."

Mammoth growled, leaping off the temple at them. Rolling out of the way, the giant beast made impact on where they had been moments ago. Looking through the smoke, he roared as a lasso wrapped around him, sending him flying away from the temple.

"Nightmare! Batman! Get in the temple," Wonder Woman said. "I'll handle him."

Nodding, Nightmare sprinted inside the temple. As he got inside, he slowed to a stop, looking over the drop off, the temple was much bigger than it looked on the outside. Before him, down below, an entire labyrinth stood. "Goddess of mazes," he muttered, "of course." Glancing to his left, he saw Batman approaching. "Need a lift to the center?"

The Dark Knight narrowed his eyes, and the hybrid chuckled nervously.

"Never mind, I'll meet you in the…" Nightmare trailed off, sniffing the air. Something wasn't right. Furrowing his brows, he flew off the cliff, landing in front of the maze still sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Batman spoke, nearly making the teen jump.

"It smells like…" he sniffed the air again, "food?"

"Food?"

"Yeah, like a cow or something," he nodded still sniffing the air. The scent was fresh, so whatever it was was still here, however, this whole place reeked of…cow. There was no way to tell where exactly it was.

"Makes sense," Batman said. "If there's one thing known for guarding the Labyrinth," Batman started as they both turned as the sound of thumping footsteps came their way.

"Must. Stop. Intruders," a deep voice huffed as glowing red eyes came from the darkness. As the beast emerged, Nightmare was surprised to find that his guess was correct as a man-bull-thing stomped out.

"It's the Minotaur."

"Must. Stop. Inturders!" the beast roared charging at them. Dodging out of the way, they watched at it slammed into the cliff, creating a massive crater in it. Shaking its head, the minotaur grunted before it looked at Batman. It began charging again and the Dark Knight leapt over it landing behind it as it continued its charge. The labyrinth shook as it made impact, the beast charging through several walls before coming it a stop.

"Nightmare, go three walls closer to the center," Batman ordered.

"Uh, I'm not leaving you alone with that!" he exclaimed.

"You won't be. I'll bring it to you, be ready."

-.-

"You know, that was way harder than it had to be," Nightmare stated as the minotaur collapsed.

"Perhaps, but it wore down our enemy at little effort on our part," the Bat stated walking through the holes in the walls leading to the center of the maze.

"There you are," Wonder Woman said landing behind them. "I'm glad to see you're alright."

"Could you have warned us about the Minotaur?" Onyx exclaimed.

"Where would the fun in that be," Diana chuckled ruffling his hair.

"How does this shrine work?" Batman asked standing by the fountain in the center of the clearing.

"You ask politely," Diana replied walking over. she picked up the golden chalice, carefully filling it in the fountain. "Gods of Olympus, hear my plea, show me what Cyber and Kobra are planning. Show me how to stop them."

Raising the glass to her lips, the heroine drank the glowing liquid. A split second later, she collapsed to her knees.

"MOM!" Onyx exclaimed racing to her side.

For several moments, his mother sat gasping. She started to fall forwards, using her hands to catch herself as Batman rested a hand on her shoulder. "What did you see?"

"Much, but I can't make sense of it. We still don't know what Cyber and Kobra are planning," she sighed getting to her feet.

"Must. Stop. Intruders," a familiar voice repeated.

"Not this again," Onyx drawled looking at the minotaur.

"Must. Stop. Intruders."

Batman reached for his belt, when Wonder Woman reached out and stopped him. "Don't."

"Must. Stop. Intruders."

She flew over to a fallen column, picking it up, she slammed it down on the fountain. Almost instantly, the beast fell to its knees with a groan, the red glow leaving its eyes. "Peace friend. There is nothing left for you to protect."

"Yes," it spoke rising. "You freed me. What is your name?"

"Diana of Themiscyra."

"An Amazon," the Minotaur bowed. "I pledge my life to you, Diana of Themiscyra."

"And I promise to protect and shelter you for all of my days," Diana nodded. "Come, what is your name?"

"Ferdinand?" Onyx threw out.

"An excellent name."

"Then rise Ferdinand, and know you will never need to fight again," Diana smiled.

-.-

Mammoth grunted as the rope holding him was released. Standing up he looked at Shimmer, smirking as she nodded. She got the info they came for.

-.-

**DC, 10:32EST**

"We found this on come pf Dr. Cybers compounds," Cale growled zooming in on one of the samples.

"Your logo."

"That's not it," she continued. "My techs found the tags when we were looking at samples of Vanessa's bloodwork."

"And that is not your only problem," Batman stated, "one of our enemies was already at the temple."

"That's impossible, I didn't tell anyone you were here. No one could have know what you were up to," she said. "Did you at least find out what Dr. Cyber and Kobra were planning?"

"I had a vision, but I can't make sense of it. I saw my mother, two snakes, and fire."

"What kind of snakes?" Cale began typing, pulling up images of hundred of species.

"One was a Cobra. The other was almost white with dark markings," she said.

Dr. Cale typed some more, pulling up several species. "Any of these look familiar?"

Diana looked at the images for a moment. "That one."

"A Montiviperia xanthine, it's a venomous snake native to the regions around the Mediterranean, particularly Greece and Turkey."

"So whatever they're doing has to do with around there?" Onyx said. "That doesn't narrow down much."

"Perhaps, if we just focused on the snake," Batman said. "Wonder Woman said she saw other things in the vision. Fire and Snakes are both often seen as symbols of destruction."

"My mother," Diana whispered. "Themiscyra. They're going after Themiscrya."

"Well done," Cyber said appearing on the screens around them. "It seems you figured me out."

"How did you get into the secure server?!" Cale demanded.

She reached for the phone and Cyber chuckled. "I wouldn't bother. I have all your access codes."

"Cyber, these people have done nothing to you nor Cobra," Wonder Woman spoke. "Neither have the Amazons. If you want vengeance—"

"This isn't about vengeance. It's about money. The tech the Amazons have, and now that we know where it is, it's all ours for the taking. Killing all of you is just a bonus. Don't take it personally, it's just good business."

Red lights began to flash around them and windows and doors started locking. "Great, Cyber activated the Contamination Protocol. The lab think's a virus is loose and needs to be sanitized."

"Which means?"

"This entire floor's about to be incinerated."


	46. Old Grudges

Chapter 45

**A/N: Hey y'all! Welcome back! Hope y'all are enjoying the story, please R&R. Remember, I just own my OCs, nothing else is mine, sadly.**

**/comms/**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**_"_****Bold is Raptor."**

**DC. April 29, 10:35EST**

Glass shattered as a sonic scream forced everyone to duck and cover their ears. Turning to the table, they saw Vanessa getting to her feet, the formally blue parts of her armor bow blood red. She spread her wings, the sharp tips scratching the walls.

Onyx didn't even have any time to react as she lunged. A heavy weight slammed into his gut and he was pushed out of the windows before slamming onto the roof of a next-door building.

Rolling to his feet, Nightmare looked at the girl standing across from him. "Vanessa, listen to me, those implants are killing you!"

The teen lunged forwards and he raised his arm, grimacing as the screech of metal on metal reached his ears. Sparks flew as gauntlets and claws clashed. Spreading her wings, Vanessa lunged again, slamming him into the side of a building.

"Vanessa, we're trying to help you!" he growled prying himself out of the crater.

"You're lying! You're trying to take all I have left! Just like you took my mom!"

"That's not true!" he protested diving under her.

Silver Swan broke through the wall before she flew back out chasing after him. Flying higher he came to an abrupt halt, allowing the girl to fly past him. Grabbing her leg, he tossed her towards the ground, she spread her wings and caught herself. Flying back up at him, she threw a punch, the he grabbed. Flipping her over his shoulder, he hurled her down through the roof a building. As he went to make sure she was down, a sonic scream blasted him back.

A silver blur came and Nightmare felt his teeth clash violently as he was punched. Another silver flash came and he grabbed her arm, quickly grabbing the other as she tried to claw his face. "Vanessa, trust me, this is killing you. You don't want this."

"You don't even know me!"

"I know it's not going to bring your mother back."

Vanessa growled, releasing a sonic scream. Nightmare grunted as he was slammed against a building. Baring his fangs, he prepared to attack when the scent of smoke reached him. Looking back towards Cale Pharmaceuticals his eyes widened as he saw smoke rising.

With a growl, he flew back towards the building. As much as he wanted to talk sense into Vanessa, he needed to make sure everyone was safe.

"Nightmare!" he heard his mother call.

Looking towards a roof, he saw he standing with Batman. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yes, the floor was successfully evacuated while you handled Silver Swan," Batman said.

"Nightmare, Dr. Cyber and Kobra have declared war on Themiscyra," Diana spoke. "We need go home and tell our sisters."

"Meanwhile I could alert the League and the Team," Batman nodded.

"No," she shook her head. "If there's one thing Amazons know best, it's how to fight in war. You should tell the League that we might be out of reach for a while. This isn't your fight Bruce."

-.-

**Themiscyrian Embassy, 11:02EST**

Onyx remained quiet as he helped Indie and Blue into the armor his sisters had forged for them. All around them he could hear the other Amazons clamoring angrily as they got their weapons and armor.

War. They were going to war. Against what he wasn't sure. But whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Fastening the final piece, He stepped back as Blue experimentally waved her tail, the blade fastened to the end carving a groove into the marble column.

Patting her head, he grabbed his sword, putting it on his hip beside his lasso and collapsible staff.

"We're moving out!" he heard his Aunt call.

Sighing, he got up, and went to the jet. It was going to be a long flight

-.-

**Themiscyra, 20:03**

Vanessa grunted, catching herself as the plane rocked. Looking out the window, the cyborg glared at the archers on the walls.

"This is why I don't like being in the field," Dr. Cyber spoke.

"Yes, but even gods must occasionally stoop to conquer," Kobra recited crossing his arms.

"Exalted one," one of his underlings spoke from the controls. "We have an incoming signal."

Cyber chuckled, "Well, the Princess and the Prince have returned. Good. Vanessa, take care of the heroes."

Nodding, the girl ran out of the cockpit. One of the cultists bowed, opening the ramp, allowing her to spring forwards and take off.

"Now that she's out of the way, we can continue our plan," Cyber spoke looking to Kobra. "Since it is beneath you to fight, I will handle to front gate. You and your men make sure the protype is ready."

"It is not beneath me to conquer what is mine," Kobra replied narrowing his eyes. "However, with this asset, our friends will not be disappointed. With her, we can bring in a new age of chaos." With a smile, the madman lifted the glass case and pressed the red button allowing the protype to land on the ground as the Amazon's mighty wall fell.

"I will not tell you twice! Surrender!" one demanded.

"Surrender?" a voice hissed. "A Gorgon does not surrender to Amazons."

Kobra was all too pleased to watch them be turned to stone. "Mighty Medusa," he bowed "it is an honor to be in the presence of the Queen of Serpents. I am Kobra, God of—"

A cackle cut him off, "A mortal who thinks himself a god? Now I've seen everything. Mortals always see themselves as so high and mighty when they are mere playthings."

Dr. Cyber growled, storming in front of her, "You serve us monster!"

"Whatever your plans were, know this! I am Medusa!" Baring her fangs, the gorgon stabbed her claws through Cyber's chest, causing sparks and smoke to rise as the android failed. "No one controls my fate. None can hold my gaze, not even a mechanical puppet!" She turned grabbing Kobra by his throat, raising him off the ground, "And certainly not Mortals who believe themselves to be gods. Small minded fools like yourselves never truly know what they are dealing with."

"Mighty Medusa," Kobra grunted, "I hold only respect for the Great Serpent Queen. I have an offering," he held out a vial, "Kobra Venom, it will make you so much stronger. Strong enough to eradicate our enemies, the Amazons."

"Very well," she hissed swiping the vial. Kobra dropped to his knees gasping for air. "But know this. if you are not out of my sight before this battle ends, I will destroy you." The gorgon strode forwards, raising the injector to her neck. With a roar, the cultist watched in a mix of awe and horror as she grew as tall as the mighty walls. "Revenge is mine."

-.-

Everyone on the jet jolted as Silver Swan rammed into them, her claws trailing along the hull causing errors to pop up on the screen. "She's going to tear us apart Sister!" Iris called.

"Just watch my back," Nightmare nodded getting up and going to the back of the jet, "I'll handle Vanessa."

"Onyx!" he mother protested.

The doors closed and he was suddenly in freefall. A sonic scream knocked him back. Flipping over to reorient himself, sparks flew as Swan's claws raked across his gauntlets. Hissing, he spun around, slamming his tail into her gut.

"Vanessa! You don't have to do this!" he called. "We're still friends."

The other girl chuckled, "Are you really that stupid?" Diving at him, he pushed himself out of the way as she zoomed past, only to grunt as claws dug into his arm. Silver Swan smirked as she flipped him over her, grabbing his hair and putting him in a chokehold. "This isn't about friendship, this isn't even about family! This is an eye for an eye Your Highness! You took everything from me; now I'm going to do the same to you."

Eyes turning red, Nightmare bared his fangs and growled. He wrapped his tail around Swan's waist, using the extra appendage to pull her off and toss her away. With a flap of her wings, she looped around, heading straight back for him. Each threw their own attacks, Nightmare's uniform ripping as her claws tore them, metal scraping as he left long gouges in her wing. Digging his claws deeper, he snarled as he landed on her back.

Silver Swan spun around, using her wing to swat him off. As he caught himself, her eyes widened. The young hero's normally golden eyes were solid red. Tilting his head back, he gave a rage-filled roar that echoed over the island, sending shivers down her spine.

Then suddenly, he was there in front of her. A hand wrapped around her throat and she screamed as lightning began to arch over her. Flailing her wings, she managed to back away from him before a heavy weight collided into her side. Diving to the ground they crashed through two buildings before slamming into the courtyard.

Onyx groaned as he sat up, under him his eyes widened as he saw Vanessa lying there unconscious. Looking around he could see his sisters making a retreat.

"Onyx!" he heard Artemis call. The tall redhead kneeled beside him with his aunt and mother. "Great Hera."

Following their gazes, Onyx couldn't help but gulp. He'd heard the legend, but hearing it and seeing it were two different things. When he imagined the Gorgons, he pictured serpent-like people around normal height. Not three-story giants.

Something open fired on her, causing Medusa to raise he shield as the Batwing sped past, firing at her. Growling, Medusa bent down, picking up one of the stone forms of their sisters. Hurling the petrified woman, their eyes widened as she slammed into the jet, causing smoke to rise off it.

"I'll go help them!" Donna said taking to the air after the smoking jet.

"No one escapes my vengeance."

"Call me crazy, but I thought the Gorgons were dead?" Nightmare said covering his eyes.

"They're supposed to be!" Artemis confirmed.

"It can't be her, Perseus killed Medusa," Diana argued.

Apparently, she heard them. "And now I've been reborn," the Gorgon chuckled. "Could a mere replica do this?" She turned eyes glowing as two more Amazons turned to stone.

"Stop!" Wonder Woman called. "Whatever Kobra told you, whatever Cyber did to you, you can choose another path. We don't have to be enemies."

"I know the Amazons, we have always been enemies. You killed my sisters," she snarled, "but if your Queen begs enough, I promise to at least turn them all to stone before the Amazons end."

Wonder Woman grabbed her sword, "I'm afraid, I cannot allow that to happen. Artemis, Onyx, take Vanessa behind the wall."

"I'm not leaving," Onyx replied grabbing the hilt of his blade.

"Onyx!" his mother chastised.

Before their argument could continue, Medusa swung the sword she pulled from one of the statues. Swinging it down on where the mother and son had been as Artemis pulled the unconscious cyborg girl back to safety.

The gorgon swung again, her massive blade cutting through the stone floors. Rocks erupted from her path, flying towards the city.

Grabbing his lasso, Nightmare roped one of the larger ones, swinging it back towards the sender. As Medusa's blade clashed with his mothers, she was sent stumbling as the boulder slammed into her sending dust flying up. Seeing his chance, Nightmare flew down to punch her. However, one of her snakes had another idea. It lashed out through the dust, barely missing his face. Yelping in alarm, his eyes turned red and two beams blasted out, vaporizing the serpent. Making a retreat, he landed by his mother.

"That was new."

"Focus Onyx," Diana reminded. Flying forwards, she slammed into Medusa's shield almost knocking her back. However, Medusa merely allowed the momentum to pull her shield out of the way, letting the gorgon swing her sword. Their blades collided, and Wonder Woman flew back. Flipping in the air she landed on her feet, wiping some blood from her lip.

A stone flew towards her and a lasso wrapped around it, causing the heroine to smirk proudly as her son used Medusa's own attacks against her. As she stumbled back, Onyx shot forwards, throwing his lasso again. It passed over the massive sword, falling around the hilt.

He didn't expect her to immediately charge forwards. Letting go of his lasso, Nightmare pulled out his sword barely parrying her blade. The impact send him crashing to the ground, and he grunted as a massive rock landed on his ankle, causing pain to shoot up his spine as he gave a scream.

Trying to shove the boulder off, he grit his teeth as the ground shook. Glancing to the fight, he could see his mother fly towards the fallen Medusa. Swinging her sword, the gorgon rolled out of the way with a hiss. Then, one of her snakes shot out and bit his mother in the arm.

Grunting in pain, Diana leapt back next to him as he shoved the boulder off, shakily standing up as Medusa approached. "My lovelies have very special venom. Eats through almost anything." She charged forwards, causing the pair to dive under the massive blade as it swung over them.

Nightmare raised his sword, grunting as it sent him flying back into one of the buildings. Landing on his knees, the hybrid coughed, trying to catch his breath. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw Medusa knock his mother through a wall.

This fight…this fight wasn't going well. How were they going to defeat a being who could turn someone to stone with one look? Biting his lip, he scrambled behind a column, trying to come up with a plan. Perseus did it, but how? He couldn't look her in the eyes, but he did use a reflection. And wasn't there a story about a blind person surviving the gorgons? Glancing back out he could see Medusa stomping towards the inner gates.

What if her power only worked with direct eye contact? To be affected, they'd actually have to _see_ her eyes.

He hoped that was the case. Switching to thermal, he sprinted out from his hiding spot. He leapt off the ground, swinging his sword and grinning as he caught the fresh scent of blood. Upon his landing, he yelped, falling to his knee as his injured leg gave out. Right, broken leg, wasn't the first time he fought with one of these. He could manage.

Unfortunately, it was enough of a distraction for a massive hand to wrap around him. The crushing grip lifted him up, and Nightmare could see the warm form of the monster approaching. "Now what are you?"

"The better-looking version of you," he replied.

A loud hiss came from the form in front of him and he yowled one of the tendrils coming off her head lashed out. Sharp fangs dug into his shoulder, and he screamed as it would began to burn. Like something was trying to eat it from the inside out. He really needed to sometimes think before he spoke.

He gasped as the crushing grip left, only to have the air knocked from his lungs again as he slammed to the ground, the serpent's fangs ripping out of his shoulder. A clatter came from his left and he could make out the faintly glowing heat-print of a hand on the sword's hilt. Realizing what happened, he looked over to see his mother grabbing the snakes as they pit her, using them to pull Medusa to the ground before hurling her through one of the buildings.

Once she was the gorgon was out of the way for the moment, Diana ran back to her son. "Onyx."

"I'm fine," he said looking to her heated form. He could see several bright spots, and he could smell blood. "You're injured."

"So are you," his mother reminded helping him to his feet. "Onyx, go back behind the wall with the others."

"I'll be fine Mom, she can't turn me to stone if that's what you're worried about," he replied looking in the general area of her face. "You have to make direct eye contact right? Well in thermal, I can't see her eyes."

"You don't need to see her to beat her," his mother smiled. "Think you can hold her off for a minute? I have an idea."

Grinning, Nightmare flew out into the middle of the field. "HEY! FANGFACE! WANNA TALK?! I WANNA KNOW WHO HOLDS THE BRAIN SINCE IT'S OBVIOUSLY TOO TINY FOR YOUR BIG ASS MUG!"

Medusa growled, and she rose from the rubble.

"Well that got her attention," he muttered. Flying back, he landed on the ground, stumbling over something. Since he was in thermal vision, it was hard to tell what. Hopefully, it was useful cause Medusa was getting close. As she stomped closer, he dug his claws under the metal object before picking it up. Turning around, he swung it, stumbling under the surprisingly heavy weight. Though his actions did result in a satisfying clang as Medusa stumbled back, so he'd take it as a win.

The gorgon roared as she whirled back on him and Nightmare flew back out of reach before diving forwards. Lightning crackled on his finger tips and he dover under a snake, flying by her arm. He swung his claws, gouging her arm as she screamed as the lightning arched over her.

"Infernal descendant of Zues!" she snarled and he heard the scraping of a massive sword on stone.

/Nightmare, duck!/ Batman's voice called.

Letting himself drop, Onyx flipped as a gush of air from the swinging blade passing over nearly knocked him off balance. Seizing his chance, he shot forwards, flipping again before kicking off her gut, the shockwave sending her stumbling back.

A warm form came from his right and shot at the falling Medusa. Recognizing his mother's scent, the teen grinned as he saw her slam into Medusa, severing her head from her body.

Not sure if he saw what he thought he just saw, he pulled his third eyelid back, blinking as he saw Medusa's head lying yards away from her body. "Whoa…we actually beat her."

"Yes," Diana grunted. "You did an excellent job of distracting her Little Hunter."

"Onyx! Diana!" they heard a familiar voice call and they blinked as they saw Vanessa running over. "I…I'm…you…"

"It's alright," Diana smiled.

"No, it's not," Batman said. "Vanessa has committed crimes and killed people. We cannot allow that to go unpunished."

"I committed crimes and killed people," Nightmare reminded. "People change."

"You were under mind control."

"Batman," Diana scolded, "You know as well as I how grief can affect ones actions, especially in the heat of battle. She was manipulated into this and you know it."

"Diana! Onyx!" Donna exclaimed cutting off the Dark Knight's response as she landed beside her sister and nephew. "Oh gods…Mother!"

"I know Donna, the healing chamber is already being prepared," the Queen spoke and both injured Amazons tried to bow. Grabbing their arms, she kept them from doing so. "No, now is not the time my daughter, my grandson, you fought like true Amazons today."

"Thank you Grandmother, but we came here with a mission," Onyx spoke motioning to Vanessa. "Can you help?"

-.-

**April 30, 08:02**

"I'm sorry we couldn't get rid of all of it," Diana apologized as she sat next to Vanessa.

"It's fine," the girl said looking at her silver claws. "I'm just glad it's not going to be consuming me anymore."

"Yes, I suppose that is a good thing," the heroine nodded.

"I've managed to analyze the cybernetics," Batman spoke up, making the girl jump. "Looks like it's integrated into your nervous system and DNA. You might be able to control it, and go between as much as out need out at will."

"You really think so?" she asked.

"Given time and training, yes," Batman nodded. "Black Canary has agreed to take you on as her protégé if you're interested given your shared power and the fact the Hawks are already training their daughter."

"If I can repay what I've done, then yes," Vanessa nodded. "I'll make Silver Swan a hero."

"Good. Nightmare is on the Team you'll be joining, and the rest are on their way now. You can be introduced to them when they arrive."

"Awesome! Thank you! I promise you won't regret it!" she said sprinting out of the room.

Diana smiled, crossing her arms and leaning against the railing. "I thought you said she needed to pay for what she'd done?"

"And she will," Bruce nodded, "through community service. And perhaps her power can be channeled through a positive outlet this way."

Wonder Woman rolled her eyes, "Sure," sighing she stood up, knowing full well she wouldn't get an answer out of Bruce. "Come on Bioship's here, we should check on the kids before they wreck something."

**A/N: Hey y'all! I'm back! Hope y'all enjoyed these past few chapters, I got this idea from the movie Wonder Woman Bloodlines (if that wasn't obvious). Anyways, let me know what you thought! And I'll see y'all in the next chapter!**


	47. New Things

Chapter 46

**A/N: hey y'all! I'm back! Remember, I just own the story and my OCs, nothing else.**

**/comms/**

**_Telepathy_**

**_"_****Bold is raptor."**

**Themiscyra, April 30, 10:31**

"Is that a dress?" Wally snickered as Onyx walked in wearing a dark red, short toga.

The hybrid picked up a pillow, hurling it at him. "It's a toga…and my uniform got torn to shreds in the fight so…yeah."

"But still dude, a dress?"

"Says the guy who wears a skin-tight yellow and red suit?" Artemis reminded swatting the back of her boyfriend's head. "Besides, he could still kick your ass in that anyways."

"Ow! Babe! Who's side are you on?"

"The side that doesn't judge cultures," she deadpanned. "Lots of cultures had men in skirts and dresses."

"Would you want to see me in a dress?"

"Obviously not, you wouldn't look as cute in a toga," Artemis teased.

"Babe!"

Robin laughed, "You two need a room?"

"No!"

Still snickering, Robin leaned back, looking at Onyx. "Anyways, how's the cleanup going?"

"Ok, we're still trying to dig up some bodies, and find the pieces for a few," he shrugged. "But overall with Indie, Wolf, and Blue we're finding them pretty fast."

"Wait, bodies?" Raquel asked, breaking the stunned silence.

"Yes?" he tilted his head. "We fought Medusa. She turned people to stone, and some of them she shattered. When we killed her, those affected turned back to normal, including the dead ones."

"How are you taking this so well? People died!" she exclaimed.

"It's not like it's the first time we've seen people die," Skylar remarked as Onyx sat beside her. "I mean when I was a bad guy, I killed people, so did Onyx. Shit happens."

"You two killed people?!"

"Former villain," Sky reminded.

"You're a former villain?" a new voice spoke up and everyone's head turned to see Vanessa standing beside Canary. Seeing everyone look at her, the cyborg girl bit her lip, taking a step back. "I—I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean, I used to be a bad guy too, till recently. Some stuff happened and I, well, I kinda fell in with a wrong crowd—well, more I fell for their lies—"

"Vanessa," Canary spoke up, interrupting the girl's rambling. "It's ok. Everyone, I'd like you to meet you new teammate and my new protégé, Silver Swan."

"Hi," she waved.

"What kind of armor is that?" Zatanna asked.

"Uh…nanotech, I think? I don't know, it was just kinda injected into me," she shrugged.

"Wait…" Wally said looking at her, "You're a cyborg? A real, actual, cyborg?"

"Uh…I guess?" she shrunk back.

"That's so cool!" he grinned.

That made Vanessa blink, "It is?"

"Oh yeah! Do you know how much theoretical science is behind that? And now you're actually here! in the flesh! Makes me wonder how far we could advance people. I mean prosthetics, all sorts of stuff!"

"I mean, before this I used to be paralyzed from the waist down," Vanessa said slowly sitting down.

"And you can walk again?" Wally grinned.

"Stop scaring her," Artemis scolded. "Ignore him, he's an idiot. I'm Artemis. The loudmouth is my boyfriend, Baywatch."

"Hey! It's Flash! Kid Flash!" he corrected. "But we're off mission now, so you can call me Wally."

"I'm M'gann," she waved. "I go by Miss Martian on missions. But it's really nice to meet you. I'm excited to have another sister on the team!"

"I'm Rocket, but you can call me Raquel," the girl smiled sitting next to her. "I just joined the Team earlier this year, so I get being the new guy."

"I'm Zatanna," the magician smiled sitting on the girl's other side. "It's nice to meet you."

Aqualad stood up, walking to her and holding out a hand, "I am Kaldur, the team leader. I look forwards to working with you Vanessa."

"Me too sir," she nodded shaking it.

"Girl, we don't do any of that ma'am and sir stuff here," Raquel scolded. "Relax!"

"I will try."

"Anyways," Kaldur spoke up, "you have already met Nightmare. The one next to him is Skylar, or Remix, she is the Hawk's protégé." The hybrid girl made a show of narrowing her eyes and leaning against Onyx. "Then we have Superboy, or Conner as you can call him off missions."

"Hey."

"And lastly, we have Robin," Kaldur introduced and the Boy Wonder waved from where he was working on something.

"So Swan, what can you do?" Wally asked leaning back on the couch.

"Um…well, I don't know all of my powers," she bit her lip. "I can fly, I have razor-wings and claws, and a sonic scream."

"Cool."

"So, this team thing, how does it work?" Vanessa asked.

"Well, we're sent on missions assigned by Batman—"

"Often espionage where something blows up."

"—And we complete what's assigned to us. It's way to prepare us for the Justice League."

"Wow."

"So Onyx, what happened to Kobra?" Robin asked.

"Don't know, my sisters are searching the island for him. We already have most of the followers that came with him in the cells."

"Ah yes, the dungeons," Skylar reminisced, "I remember when you came for me down there."

"Well unlike you Sky they're insane cultists, I doubt they'll listen to reason," Onyx reminded.

"True," she nodded. Standing up, the girl stretched her wings, "Well, I don't know about all of you, but I'd like to explore the island."

"Why? Didn't I give you a tour last time you were here?" Onyx questioned.

"Last time I was here, you were convincing me to be a good guy through playing pranks," she rolled her eyes. "This time I want to try the game fields."

"The game fields?" Wally asked.

"It's basically where we hold our version of the Olympics," he answered.

"And how do we know you won't destroy anything?" a familiar voice asked and all the teens jumped as Wonder Woman stood in the doorway crossing her arms.

"We promise to be careful," Sky smiled.

"Oh, I don't doubt you two," Diana smiled, she raised a brow towards Wally, "I doubt him."

"Me?!"

"Dude, you flirt with everyone," Conner spoke up. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the Amazons kick your ass if you tried that here?"

"Oh they totally would," Onyx nodded. "I'd help."

"You'd have to get in line," Artemis warned.

"Get in line for what?" Donna asked as she and Artemis walked in.

"Kicking Wally's butt for flirting with our sisters," Onyx answered.

"Ah, so he's that friend you told us about," the redheaded woman nodded.

"Yep," he smiled.

"Hey!"

"Sky, good to see you again," Donna smiled.

"Good to see you too," she smiled. "Everyone, meet Artemis and Wonder Woman's sister, Princess Donna."

"Hi."

"Well, I'm glad to meet all of Onyx's friends, there were moments I would've thought he was making all of you up," Artemis smirked.

"Why would I do that?" he complained.

"You never bring friends over," Donna scolded. "If it wasn't for Sky and Robin showing up, we'd be worried. Now that we're done embarrassing you, I want to see what you all can do."

-.-

"Do we really have to wear these?" Wally whined tugging on the edge of his toga. "I feel naked."

"Maybe if you hadn't teased Onyx earlier karma wouldn't have come back to bite you," Artemis snickered. "Besides, I think they're pretty comfy."

"Plus, the sandals are super cute," Zatanna added, "Think they'll let us keep them?"

"I hope so."

"Alright! Who's up first!" Donna called crossing her arms as other Amazons sat down in the stands wanting to watch the show.

"Oh, yeah! I'd love to show you my moves!" Wally called raising his hand running down the steps.

"Oh, he's screwed," Skylar snickered.

"Totally," Onyx smirked as his Aunt Donna raised a brow, grabbing a sword and shield.

"I put five bucks on thirty seconds, tops," Robin snickered.

"I bet twenty."

"Fifteen."

"Ten."

"I'll take that bet," Sky smirked. "I give him five."

Artemis shrugged, adding money to the pile, "Three."

"So we are doing in betting ring?" Diana asked as she and Batman joined them.

"Um…"

"Put five on Donna winning," she smiled.

"We're actually betting on how long Wally will last," Sky said.

"Ah, I bet five," Diana corrected.

"We both know he won't last three," Batman stated.

"Eh, doesn't take away the fun."

"Put me down as well."

"Who are you and what have you done to my mentor?" Robin demanded jumping behind Conner and pointing at him.

Diana laughed, "Are you kidding? We do bets like these all the time in the League. What was the last one?"

"Who was faster? Superman or Flash."

"Who won?"

"Well considering this was our third time betting on it, we still haven't figured it out," Diana huffed. "I lost twenty bucks."

"And I won everyone's money because I was the only who bet we still wouldn't be able to figure it out," Batman smirked as Diana turned to him and stuck her tongue out.

"Hey! Fight's starting!" M'gann called.

Everyone went silent, looking at the fight. A moment later, they sighed and handed the cash to Batman. "I told you he wouldn't last three."

**A/N: hey guys! Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! Love seeing your reviews. **

**Anyways, as for those with the Godzilla idea, I'll look into it, the concept sounds interesting, I haven't really been into the Godzilla fandom but I might check it out for another story concept. I guess, if I do it it'll be an AU of this story, so I guess we'll see. Anways, I'll see y'all next time!**


	48. Game of Chance

Chapter 47

**A/N: hey guys! Welcome back! Good to see y'all again! Remember, I just own my OCs, that's it sadly. Now, I figured I'd just do kind of a short relaxing chapter here of some of them having some fun and the others on a mission. Hope y'all enjoy it!**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Gotham City, December 1, 19:16EST**

"You sure they won't be able to see our scales?" Skylar asked as they walked up to the mansion

"According to Uncle B, they should work on anyone who doesn't know us," Onyx replied.

"So, Batman is Uncle B now?" the redheaded girl smirked.

"Dick calls Mom his aunt, and we're over at each other's places enough as it is," he argued. "I figured it was normal."

She chuckled, patting his shoulder, "It's cute how clueless you are."

"I'm not clueless!" he whined blushing as she smiled at him.

"Hey!" a voice called and the pair turned to see Artemis and another blonde girl approaching. "You here for Dick's party?"

"Yeah," Onyx smiled to them. "I'm Dick's friend from camp, this is my girlfriend Skylar."

"Hi."

"Nice to meet you," the girl in the purple dress smiled. "I'm Bette, this is my friend Artemis. We go to Dick's school."

"Nice to meet y'all."

"To be honest, I don't even know why I'm here," Artemis scoffed. "I barely know this kid. And I'm crashing his party."

"He's a sophomore Artemis. Knowing him isn't the point."

Skylar leaned in chuckling, "Damn, he's really been keeping his ID close to the vest huh?"

"You have no idea," he whispered.

"Then what is the point?" Artemis groaned.

"Are you kidding?" Bette chuckled, "He's the richest kid in Gotham. Are you at least curious?"

Hearing the door open, Onyx grinned as he saw Alfred. "Alfie!"

"Master Onyx," the man greeted.

"Onyx! Sky! Bette! Artemis!" Dick called popping up behind the butler. "I'm glad you came!"

"How could we miss it dude?" Onyx grinned playfully elbowing him.

Dick rolled his eyes, stepping back so they could come inside. "The party's in here," he said leading them up the stairs into the game room.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"Whoa."

"Looks like Uncle B went all out this time?" Onyx grinned.

"Pfft, you act like he doesn't always go all out," Dick chuckled.

"True."

"Hey Dick."

"Oh, hey Barb, when did you get here?" the fifteen-year-old chuckled as the red-headed girl waved to him.

"A little bit ago, you were caught up in the video-gaming tournament."

"I missed the video game tournament?" Onyx whined.

"You act like you would've beaten me in Mario Kart anyways," Skylar snickered.

"I let you win those times!" he protested.

The female hybrid chuckled, hugging his arm, "Sure you did."

"I've got an idea," Artemis smirked. "Boys vs girls foosball?"

"Oh you're on," Dick grinned. Grabbing Onyx's arm, he pulled him towards the empty table, smirking as Artemis and Barbra took the other side. "Guess that mean's Sky and Bette will keep score?"

"Well, we all know Onyx would lose to me," Sky smirked deviously.

"No I wouldn't!"

The redhead smirked resting her chin on her palm, "You just admitted to purposing losing Mario Kart so I would win."

Onyx flushed, glaring down at the table, damn, he did just say that. Dick meanwhile snickered at his friend's debacle. "Dude, you can get all flustered later. Now we need to kick butt!"

"That I can get behind!" he smirked.

-.-

**20:00EST**

"Get it! Get it!" Bette cheered as the girls blocked the ball from reaching their goal. Barbra spun her player, sending the tiny soccer ball shooting across the field. "GOAL!"

"Girl you're on fire," Artemis grinned high-fiving the other girl.

"Please, I always beat him," Barbra snickered.

"Always?" Bette smirked.

Dick pouted, crossing his arms, "She's like seriously good at everything."

"This match just keeps getting better and better," Sky chuckled.

"Who's side are you on?"

"The winning side."

"Who wants pizza?!" Alfred called.

Onyx and Dick looked at each other then back at the pile of boxes Alfred was carrying. "_You_ ordered pizza?"

"Don't be absurd Master Richard, I ordered the boxes, I made the pies," the man chided as he and Bruce set out the boxes, stepping back to let the guests dig in.

"I'm kinda surprised you aren't in Dhabar," Dick said stepping aside with Bruce.

"I wouldn't miss your birthday," the man smiled. "Besides—Onyx, Sky, the three-meat pizza you two are hunting for is on the end."

"Thanks Uncle B!"

"Besides," Bruce continued with a slight chuckle, "I got someone to cover for me."

-.-

**Dhbar, 21:12UTC**

"Hey, I was hoping we'd run into you kids again," Clark smiled as he rested a hand on his brother's shoulder, nearly startling the three teens as they stood in the crowd.

"Wasn't like we just saw you half-an-hour ago," Conner rolled his eyes. "Why were you at the Logan's house anyways?"

"What? You think I wouldn't want to check up on my little brother when he's visiting his girlfriend?" the reporter teased.

"Oh come on Clark, leave the poor kids alone," his photographer Jimmy teased.

"Aw, but it's a big brother's job to tease his baby brother."

"Clark!" Conner glared at him.

"Hey," Vanessa called, "since you two are so focused on arguing, you missed Harjarvti walk out."

"Oh, thanks for the warning Vanessa."

"No problem, wouldn't want you to miss a scoop given the tensions between Bialya and Qurac lately. I wouldn't put it past Queen Bee to try something," she shrugged.

"You really think that?" Megan sighed. "Maybe she'll let it go this time…"

The other redhead turned and raised a brow, "You really think that?"

"…No."

_"Is the link up?"_ Clark asked.

_"Yes."_

_"Good, cause we have company."_

They all turned as a shot rang out and they could all see a missile shooting across the plaza. Superman flew out, moving to intercept it. Only to come to a halt as it wove around him.

_"Conner? Do you see the shooter?"_ M'gann asked.

_"Concrete skyscraper, third from the right, on the roof,"_ he answered.

Vanessa turned silver plating crawling up onto her cheek and around her ear, covering the lower part of shaven half of her head. _"My scanners show the suspect: Deadshot. A highly skilled assassin, known for never missing a target."_

_"On my way!" _M'gann said camouflaging. _"You two clear the crowd and follow."_

Nodding Vanessa sprinted across the plaza, diving behind a dumpster. Closing her eyes, she felt a dull electric buzz and armor covered her skin, ripping through her clothes as her wings grew to full length. Well, her transformation still wasn't perfect, but it was better than what it had been.

_"M'gann! Behind you!"_ Superboy warned.

Flapping her wings, the new heroine shot out, her gaze locking on the missile tailing her teammate. Opening her mouth, she released a sonic cry, shoving the missile off course where Superman intercepted. "Swan! Help get the President out of here!"

"On it!"

-.-

**Gotham City, 21:20EST**

"So how was your time in the closet?" one of the other guys snickered as Dick and Barbra sat back down in the circle.

"Get your head out of the gutter Jackson," Dick stuck his tongue out.

Onyx leaned in, glancing warily at the bottle in the middle of the circle. "What is the point of this game?"

Dick shrugged, "It's just a kissing game."

"You spend five minutes in a closet?"

Dick shrugged again. "It's just the rules of the game."

"Would Bruce approve?"

"Probably not, but he doesn't have to know."

"Hey Sky, you're up!" Bette said.

"Awesome," smiling, she leaned forwards grabbing the bottle and spinning it.

The green bottle spun for about a minute before it slowly came to a stop and Dick started chuckling. "Well, bud, guess it's your turn," he smirked elbowing him.

Onyx flushed, giving a squeak, "My turn?"

"The bottle landed on you dude, and it is your girlfriend. Be awkward if it landed on anyone else."

"Don't be shy," Sky smirked grabbing him by his arm. Pulling him into the closet, she closed the door, making him jump as she gave him a light kiss. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and his eyes widened as he felt his necklace glamour slip off.

"Sky…"

"Relax, no one can see us," she said brushing a piece of hair back, "Besides, I like you better when I know you really yourself."

Sighing, he pressed his forehead against hers, "But I'm always myself Sky."

"Maybe, but at least now we aren't pretending to be normal."

"Where's the fun in being normal?" he smirked.

"Says the boy who's excuse was camp?" she chuckled.

"Hey, sometimes the cliché's work best," he purred. His claw caught her bracelet, and he pulled the glamour off, dropping it beside his necklace. "And, if it's worth anything, I like you no matter how you are."

Gently carding hid fingers through her hair, he leaned forwards and gave her a soft kiss.

-.-

**Dhabar, 21:18UTC**

A shot rang out and Swan spun, using her wing to deflect the incoming bullet. Landing on the stage, she ran over to the targets. "Is everyone ok?"

"We are fine thanks to the efforts of you and your comrades," Harjavti nodded. "Please, get my daughter out of here!"

"Father!" the girl protested.

Nodding, Swan ran over, scooping up the young woman and flying off, taking her away from danger. Setting her down on a nearby roof, she turned around, flying back to get the others.

That's when the second shot rang out.

"Brother!"

A man jumped on President Harjavti, knocking him to the ground. "Sumaan! No!"

Landing beside them cyborg knelt, hissing through her teeth. "Where's the nearest hospital?" she asked.

"About a mile in that direction," a guard pointed.

"My daughter?"

"Safe," Swan nodded. Kneeling beside the injured man, she hefted him off the ground. "Hold on…Sumaan right?"

"Yes," the man coughed.

"Just hold on, I'll get you to the hospital," she stated flapping her wings and taking off. _"Guys, I'm taking Harjavti's brother to the hospital, he got shot."_

_"Is anyone else injured?" Superman asked._

_"No, everyone else is fine, and I evacuated the President's daughter to a nearby roof."_

_"I see her."_

_"We apprehended the suspect,"_ Conner chimed in. _"I think I hit him too hard. He might need medical attention."_

_"Accidents happen brother, I will take him to the hospital with Silver Swan, you two make sure that there are no more assassins," _the Man of Steel ordered.

_"If there were they would've struck by now,"_ M'gann spoke. _"But we'll go check on the President, make sure he's safe on the way to visit his brother. That should keep Queen Bee from trying again for a little while."_


	49. Change of Plans

Chapter 48

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back! Good to see y'all again! Hope y'all're enjoying the story so far. Anways, I don't own anything other than my OCs.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor"**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Mt. Justice, December 1, 08:55EST, 3 years later**

"Happy Birthday dude!" Onyx grinned jumping on Dick's back causing him to stumble under the weight of the older man.

"Geez, Onyx, little warning next time," Nightwing chuckled as his friend hopped off.

"Where's the fun in that?" he grinned.

"Ony, don't be mean," Skylar said. Walking over, she gave him a hug. "Happy Birthday Bird Brain. We would've brought your present here, but someone," she tossed a glare at Onyx, "left it at home."

"It's fine guys," Dick chuckled. "How are Alex and Lyta?"

Onyx perked up at the mention of his younger siblings, the twins. Or as Dick liked to call them, the dynamic duo spawn of Batman and Wonder Woman. Before their relationship fell apart spectacularly that is. "They can't wait to see you this evening! They're so excited to celebrate their big brother's birthday—though, they might try to convince you to go to one of those children's party places."

"I can imagine," Dick chuckled thinking of the two-year-olds.

"Recognized: Rocket—26. Zatanna—25. Silver Swan—27."

"Justice League in the house," Mal taunted playfully. "You girls forget to zeta to the Watchtower?"

"What can I say? We're slumming," Rocket smiled.

"We're not slumming, we're on a mission," Zatanna said stepping up to Nightwing and pulling him into a kiss. That action elicited several reactions from the team. M'gann covered Gar's eyes, Wonder Girl and Lagoon Boy gasped, Batgirl smirked, while Onyx and Skylar laughed. "Happy birthday Boy Wonder."

"Say it backwards," he whispered.

"Evah a yppah yadhtrib," she rolled her eyes.

"Now it's a lock," Dick chuckled as Rocket came up and kissed him on the cheek, followed by Silver Swan.

"How is it you're friends with all your exes?" Skylar chuckled.

"That's my superpower," Nightwing joked.

"Now, we really do have to zeta to the Watchtower," Zatanna laughed.

"Yeah, we don't want to be late for our first briefing with the League," Rocket smirked high-fiving Swan.

"Girl you aren't going anywhere till you show me the latest pictures of Amistad!" Bumblebee intercepted.

Robin came up, a small smile coming to his face, "Happy birthday. You'll forgive me if we don't kiss."

"Aw, don't wanna kiss your big bro?" Onyx teased resting his arm on Tim's head.

"By all means, after you," he smirked as Onyx glared at him. He was then on the floor as a tail knocked his legs out from under him. "No fair!"

"I say it was perfectly fair," the hybrid grinned.

Tim narrowed his eyes, promising revenge later. "Anyways, I need to head back to Gotham—"

Dick chuckled, helping him up, "The Dynamic Duo thing. Believe me I know."

"See ya later," Robin waved heading off towards the zeta tube.

"Recognized: Robin—B23."

"So dude, ready for the mission?" Onyx asked playfully punching his shoulder.

"Yeah, the main question is," he motioned to Conner and M'gann, "will they be?"

"Oh…right."

"Let's find out," Remix said strutting towards them. "Superboy, Miss Martian, a word?"

"Yeah?"

"What is it?"

"We need to know, are you two still good working together?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Of course," M'gann replied. "We're professionals."

"Yeah, responsible professionals."

"Good," Nightwing said. "Alright then, mission briefing, gather up! We're splitting into two squads. I'll lead Alpha Squad. M'gann will take Beta."

-.-

**Metropolis, 09:48EST**

_"Psychic link established. Confirm status?"_

_"Superboy ready."_

_"Bumblebee ready."_

_"Batgirl ready."_

_"Lagoon Boy, ready, willing and BORED!"_

_"Sorry La'gaan but you'd attract too much attention down here," _M'gann apologized. _"But if there's trouble, you're our back-up. _

_"How about a little less chirping?" Beast Boy chimed in from where he sat perched on a tree as a small bird. "We're on a mission. Noor Harjavti is in the US to raise funds for the Quraci Democratic Party. Since the assassination of her father Noor's the only relative speaking out against the Bialyan puppet regime ruling Qurac. And trust me. Queen Bee will stop at nothing to silence her."_

"Ladies and gentlemen," the young representative began. "We are assembled here to discuss freedom. My uncle may claim to have the best interests of Qurac at heart, but Sumaan Harjavti never makes a move without consulting his Bialyan masters—or should I say Mistress?"

_"All clear so far,"_ M'gann said.

Conner nodded, shoving his hands into his coat pockets as he examined the crowd, _"Yeah. I've got nothing. She's exposed, but her bodyguards seem to be on top of things. No sign of trouble."_

"Hey there," a familiar voice spoke causing the clone to grin, "You know, I requested this assignment."

Conner chuckled, turning to his brother, "Well Clark, with a story like this, how could any reporter pass it up?"

-.-

**El Paso, 07:50MST**

"Boss, I was so psyched you chose _me_ to be on Alpha Squad with you, and Remix, and Nightmare, and Sphere—or am I not supposed to admit that?" Wonder Girl winced from where she sat in the front seat of Sphere.

"It's not uncool to be enthusiastic Cass," Nightwing chuckled. "You should've seen me when I started."

"Yeah," Skylar laughed, "the trick was getting you to shut up."

"That was Wally!"

"Last I checked Wally wasn't the one who laughed every time he was about to ambush someone," Nightmare grinned.

"Last I checked Wally also wasn't the one to start fighting Wolf again and roll right into a compound we were supposed to be spying on!"

"That was one time!"

"As adorable as it is to watch you two argue, we do have a mission," Remix reminded flying between the pair. "You two can settle your spats this evening."

"At the party right?" Cassie grinned. "Are Alex and Lyta going?"

"That's the plan so far," Nightmare grinned flying up to his mother's newest protégé. "But don't worry about being on Alpha, Cass. Who better to recruit the new guy than the newest recruit."

"I've been doing this for a few months!" she exclaimed.

"Exactly, a few months, you still have a lot to learn little cousin," Onyx snickered ruffling her hair.

"So what do we know about the new Beetle?" Skylar interrupted.

"A lot, and not enough. He's had contact with Peacemaker, Captain Atom and Green Lantern—"

"Which one?"

"Gardner," Nightwing supplied. "They all seem to feel he's a decent kid."

"Even Gardner?" Cassie exclaimed. "He doesn't like anyone!"

"Well, begrudgingly, he likes this Jamie Reyes."

"And his connection to the previous Beetle?" Remix asked as they landed on the roof of a building.

"None, really Reves was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He stumbled onto Ted Kord's greatest invention on the night Kord was murdered," Nightwing answered.

Onyx crossed his arms, "How convenient."

Dick raised a brow, shoving his hands in his pockets and rolling his eyes. Even after all these years Onyx still didn't trust newbies well. "Since then Reves has tried to do the hero thing, but he has no mentor, no training. Mostly, he just uses Kord's Beetle Armor to fly around time," he continued smirking, "and yet he still manages to be late for school."

"He's here," Remix spoke up, motioning to the figure flying closer. The figure descended to the ground and the armor fell back revealing a teen. "Alright Cass, time to go say hi."

"Me?!"

"Between the four of us you're the least likely to scare him," Nightwing stated.

With a small gulp, Wonder Girl flew down, landing on the ground before waving her arm, "Hey Jaime!"

"Hey…you," he smiled as she jogged over.

"Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Well, we're late for school but…"

"It's about Blue Beetle," she said and he startled.

"What?!"

"We come in peace."

This time the boy stumbled away from her. "We? Who's we?" he asked before bumping into something. Whirling around, he jumped as a tall man with black hair stood behind him. He could've sworn he wasn't there a minute ago.

"We might just be your new best friends."

-.-

**Metropolis, 10:24EST**

"Wow, you two don't look any different!" Clark's photographer greeted.

"Neither do you," M'gann smiled.

"Except for the mustache, right? I've been growing it for six weeks."

"The mustache! Of course," she nodded. _"Superman, I've linked you with the rest of Beta Squad."_

_"Good, because I think I've spotted out target: Devistation, an escaped felon and operative of Queen Bee. Keep an eye on her! I'll suit up and be right back!" _Superman informed. "Jimmy, I think I spotted Mayor Sackett. I'll try to get a statement."

"Go for it Mr. Kent!" Jimmy said giving a thumb's up. "That Mr. Kent always on the move, always on the job—HOLY CHEESE!"

Several bright flashes appeared across the crowd. Rubbing their eyes, M'gann's blinked a few times before her eyes widened. Superboy was gone. "CONNER!" she shouted reaching up to tap her comm and looking around. "Beta Squad to Cave. Superboy has disappeared! Vanished right before our eyes! He's out of range of my psychic link and our radios. Plus, Superman and Devistation have disappeared too!"

/It's bigger than that M'gann/ Mal replied. /Conferencing Alpha Squad and Watchtower now/

/Nightmare and Remix disappeared too/ Nightwing spoke.

/Unfortunately, all three Lanterns, both Hawks, and out cooperative delegation are currently offworld/ Red Tornado informed.

Martian Manhunter picked up where the android left off, /I'm tracing a powerful Zeta radiation signal to Earth's Moon. Our missing may have been teleported there/

/Then there's no time to lose/ Nightwing said. /Miss Martian, and LB are now Gamma Squad. Take the Bioship and head for the moon. BG you take command of Beta Noor Harjavti still needs protection, but that doesn't mean we abandon our own/

"M'gann go, Karen and I got this," Barbra said resting a hand on her arm.

Nodding, M'gann ran from the crowd, standing by the tree her little brother was hiding in. "I'm sorry Gar. I'll be back as soon as I can, promise." Going into camouflage mode, she flew up towards the Bioship. "You ready?"

"You bet!" La'gaan smirked.

"Then let go, our teammates need us and it's a long way to the moon."

-.-

**The Moon, 15:31UTC**

Nightmare groaned as consciousness began to come back to him. What had happened? Last thing he remembered was being with Dick and Sky helping recruit the newbie.

An infernal ringing reached his ears, making the hybrid grit his teeth as he felt a headache start to form. Whatever happened—whoever cause this, he was going to kick their ass. Forcing his eyes open, he started to take in his surroundings.

First thing he noticed was that he couldn't move. His arms were suspended above his head. He was in some sort of crystal. Looking around, he could see others in the same predicament. Skylar was across from him, trapped similarly and struggling. He could see his mother, Conner, Clark, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, and many others, mostly villains. He even spotted Rogue glaring at him from across the way.

Well, at least he knew it wasn't a ploy by the bad guys. But then that left one question: Who the heck had taken them?


	50. Crises on Multiple Fronts

Chapter 49

**A/N: hey guys! Welcome back for the next chapter! Good to see y'all again! Anyways, remember, I just own my OCs I don't own Jurassic Park or Young Justice.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/flashbacks_**

**Metropolis, December 1, 10:35EST**

"All right, let's focus on the mission," Batgirl said as Bumblebee came over, Beast Boy in bird form landing on her shoulder, "We still need to protect Ms. Harjavti."

"Yeah, without any of the big guns," Bumblebee muttered.

"It's not ideal but Devastation disappeared too. So maybe the worst it over…" she trailed off as a shadow came over them. Looking up, they hissed through their teeth. Above the city, a giant alien ship loomed over them. From the center a small device fell from the sky.

"You just had to say things couldn't get worse!" Bumblebee grit her teeth. "Bumblebee to Cave, Metropolis is under attack! There's a huge ship overhead and it fired off some kind of—Ah!" The comm screeched in her ear and a giant blue dome appeared over the city. Reaching for her comm again, she tried to make another call, "Beta Squad to Black Lightning?"

/Yes, Beta, I read you/ the Leaguer answered.

"So the comms inside the domes still work," Bumblebee said turning to Batgirl.

/Yes, but I can't reach the Watchtower and the local Zeta Tubes are offline/

"Cave's not responding either," she replied as she followed Batgirl to the edge of the dome, "Force field's cut us off from everything but the visible light spectrum," she knelt down digging into the soil, "it even descends into the earth and there's a slight curvature. I don't think we're under a dome, I think the whole city's trapped in a sphere."

"Bee suit up and go with Gar," Batgirl ordered. "This might all be one big distraction to get to Ms. Harjavti."

"Way ahead of you," she smirked pulling up her hood and shrinking. "But here's my question? Do you think that's where Superboy and the others got taken to?"

A green bird flew through the crowd towards the stage. Flying above it, Beast Boy transformed, rolling to a land on the platform. "Ms. Harjavti!" he called.

"GET BACK!" one of the security team yelled.

"Wait!" she said stretching out an arm, "He's a friend. Beast Boy, do you know what's going on?"

"No," he shook his head, "but we don't want to take any chances. So let's get you out of this crowd."

-.-

**The Moon, 15:52UTC**

"SHAZAM!" Captain Marvel managed to shout after several minutes of struggling. Lightning shot down, and the hero was replaced by Billy Batson. "Darn it," the teen muttered, "I thought that magic lightning would shatter this thing—Hey, that dumb noise! It's still annoying but it only works on Cap, not me!"

Onyx would've made a wry remark for his brilliant deduction cause the teen was still stuck in the damn crystal. However, the infernal ringing in his ear made it difficult to think, let alone move. It was probably why a good portion of the others in these things were only semi-conscious if they were at all.

Another flash of light blinded the hybrid for a moment. Forcing his eyes to blink, Onyx glared at the culprit. Captain Atom was now in his non-hero form. "You were right," the man grinned, "the inhibitor noise is specific to my other form."

"Yeah, but we're still stuck!" Billy reminded.

Captain Atom huffed, "Speak for yourself kid!"

The sound of shattering crystal temporarily overwhelmed the infernal hum of the inhibitor. "Way to go Cap!" Billy cheered as the older hero landed on the ground. Wrapping his jacket around his arm, he punched the inhibitor next to what had been his prison, shattering it under a single punch.

"Should be safe now." Another flash filled the room and Captain Atom stood back in his regular uniform. His fists began to glow and the infernal hum came to a stop as he blasted the sources.

Onyx grinned, feeling the dull ache that had been in his body face away. Crystal shattered around him as he forced his way out. Landing on the ground, he gave his mother a small nod as she approached with Superman and Conner.

"You ok?" he asked quietly.

"I'm fine babe," Skylar reassured kissing his cheek. "Thanks for worrying though."

"Uh…a little help?" Billy called. "The noisemaker thingy?"

"I got it," Clark chuckled.

Once Captain Marvel was back, the group turned to the other crystal pillars, looking at the prisoners inside. "We should free Major Force," Captain Marvel spoke.

"Do we have to?" Atom groaned.

Diana stretched out an arm, resting it on his shoulder, "Captain, I know you've resisted all attempts to admit Major to the League and since he's your friend, we've respected your wishes. But Major Force is a hero."

Captain Atom scoffed, "Yeah, a hero and such a good friend. Look, eventually we'll have to release everyone here," he motioned to all the villains, "but right now we don't know who's behind this, we don't even know where we are."

"Well, we know none of these guys are responsible," Sky said motioning to those still stuck, "and we know we're not where we were earlier."

"No shit," Conner deadpanned.

The redhead shrugged, "Just saying; I'm not wrong."

"There are too many questions," Captain Atom interrupted. "So as the League's newly-elected leader, I'm pulling rank. We keep this in the family until we get some answers."

"That might not be a bad idea," Superman called.

They all turned to the Man of Steel, striding over in front of the column where he stood. "This alien, calls himself Draaga, he showed up in Metropolis a year ago. Challenged me to single combat; wouldn't take no for an answer."

"I remember, you and Conner barely beat him," Onyx remembered crossing his arms. "Sky and I were expecting back-up to be called if it went on any longer."

"We probably would have if we didn't manage to stop him," Conner confirmed. "Guy left without a word; never found out how he heard of Superman."

"The point is Draaga was tough," Captain Atom reminded, "and he's only one of many. Whoever took them—and us—isn't someone we should underestimate."

"I don't want to sound immodest, but we're the Big Guns of the Justice League," Captain Marvel smirked, "whoever brought us here did the underestimating."

"I bet it now gets three times harder now that he said that," Skylar deadpanned.

Onyx shrugged, "I bet five times."

"Loser buys dinner?"

"Sure."

-.-

**New Mexico, 09:00MST**

"I don't want to tell you your business ese, but if the desination's Metropolis, then why are we headed west?" Blue Beetle asked as he flew behind Wonder Girl and Nightwing on the Supercycle.

"Because, when you fly with this team the shortest distance between two points isn't a straight line. Still, we're headed for Taos, New Mexico."

"Taos? Why Taos?" Jamie inquired as the descended towards a building.

"And spoil the surprise?" Nightwing smirked. "Where's the fun in that? But anyways, glad you came kid."

Ignoring the fact he was called a kid, Jamie just shrugged, "Yeah well, I don't know what I was thinking ese. My parents don't even know—"

"They know," Nightwing interrupted.

"WHAT?!"

"You're a minor," Nightwing deadpanned, "the Justice League checked before we made contact. They agreed that if you're going to be a hero, you better learn how to do it right."

"New kid's been scanned and assigned a designation. You're good to go when she is."

"She?"

"Great," Nightwing nodded, "Supercycle, sphere-mode please."

The cycle beeped, folding down into her sphere form. "Whoa! That was tight!" Beetle grinned before glancing behind him. "What does that even mean?"

"Means it's time to go," Nightwing spoke, motioning to the tunnel in the back of the room.

"Go? Go where? Hate to tell you ese, buy you're leading us to a one-way tunnel? If we're late for a crisis shouldn't we be boarding the Justice Jet or something?"

"Crises," Nightwing corrected, "plural, and this is better than a jet."

"Recognized: Nightwing—B01. Sphere—C01. Wonder Girl—B24. Blue Beetle—A12."

"This is wild," Jamie grinned as the Zeta Tube began to power up.

-.-

**The Moon, 17:13UST**

"We're on the Moon," Onyx said.

"Yep," Skylar nodded.

"The Moon."

"Yes, babe, we established that."

"But, the moon!" he grinned pointing outside the window.

"Aren't you concerned how we got to the fucking moon?!" she exclaimed.

"Aren't you excited to be in space?!" he replied.

"We go to space all the time," Clark remarked.

"The watchtower doesn't count," Onyx waved him off.

"Ok, excitement aside, how did this structure get here?" Conner asked.

"That's the least of our worries," Diana spoke up. "We thought escape, but the real problem is how we get home?"

"Hold our breath and pray?" Skylar suggested raising a hand.

"We are not doing that."

-.-

**Metropolis, 13:45EST**

"So, if the trouble's in Metropolis, why'd we do the Star Trek thing into Gotham?" Blue Beetle asked.

"That's why," Nightwing said pointing as they flew closer to the city, which stood with a blue dome covering it.

"Oh…got it."

"Etaerc a cipocsorcim eloh ni siht dleif rof Mota!" Zatanna chanted as they came to a landing.

"And luck?" Nightwing called.

"Not yet," Silver Swan answered landing beside him.

"Communications?"

"Visual only," she answered crossing her arms, metallic wings flicking, "no radio, sound, zeta-tube, even J'ohn's telepathy can't get through."

"And where is Martian Manhunter?"

"Attempting to densit-shift through the force-field," a voice replied making Blue jump as the hero rose from the ground next to him. "Attempting and failing."

"Can't vibrate through either!" Flash huffed skidding to a stop.

"Whatever this is, it's not compatible with my systems," Swan huffed. "Zatanna?"

"No luck. I can't even seem to summon enough mystic energy to cut even the smallest hole."

A small figure landed on Swan's wing, "The field's energy lattice appears solid down to the sub-atomic level, and my miniaturization limits out at regular atomic."

A drill came from the ground, before reforming into a man, "Gang! This thing isn't a dome at all. It's a sphere surrounding the entire city."

As they spoke, Blue leaned over to speak to Wonder Girl, "Ok, I know this is all bad news, but…"

"Coolest day of your life?" the blonde grinned.

"Totally."

"Tornado, where's the rest of the League?" Atom asked. "We could use—"

/Earth's three Green Lanterns are off-planet, as are the Hawks and our cooperative delegation. Batman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary are otherwise occupied, but may be summoned if their presence is deemed necessary and/or useful. The whereabouts of Dr. Fate remains unknown, as has been since before Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, and the others were abducted to the moon. Finally, Black Lightning is among the approximately four-million humans trapped inside Metropolis/

"He's in good company," Nightwing sighed resting his palm against the dome as Barbra pressed her own hand back.

-.-

**The Moon, 19:36UTC**

"I feel like we've been walking in circles," Skylar groaned.

"Same," Conner nodded, "I can't get my bearings in here."

"Maybe because we have been," Clark answered. Narrowing his eyes, the man sighed, "The crystalline walls have so many facets my x-ray vision's useless."

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way," Captain Marvel spoke up, "Captain Atom, can you use your quantum senses zero in on high-energy signatures?"

"Maybe."

"Great! Cause anything capable of transport from the Earth to the Moon would require boatloads of juice!"

"So we can commandeer them to go—" a bright light flashed, cutting Superboy off, "home?"

"Attention weapons…"

Remix bared her fangs as Nightmare bristled, giving a low growl, "I don't know who this bastard is, but I'm going to whoop their ass."

"I'll help."

"Please hold for universal translation of directive from First Leader Kylstar." It was then they noticed the giant crystal being looming over them. "Translating directive. Kylstar states that these weapons belong in weapons room four. However, customized weapon containers are currently non-functional. Weapons will remain here till containment is repaired."

"That's not our first choice," Captain Atom replied.

"Choice equals non-sequitur weapons room containers must be repaired. Current container provides sustaining gases, but no nourishment required for journey."

"Journey?!"

"WE'RE NOT YOUR FUCKING WEAPONS!" Remix screamed flaring her wings. "AND WE'RE NOT GOING ON WHATEVER FUCKING JOURNEY THIS IS!"

The floor rumbled underneath them, looking outside, they could see the ship they were in leaving the moon's surface. "Ok, we may have a problem…" Captain Marvel muttered.

"Gee, wonder what that could possible be?" Nightmare deadpanned.

"The guy drives a convertible in space, I'm impressed."

All heads snapped back towards their captor. That's when they realized he was standing outside.

"Well shit."


	51. Doomed Worlds

Chapter 50

**A/N: hey guys! Welcome back! Good to see y'all again, hope y'all're enjoying the story! **

**Now a little announcement. I'm sorry about all the uploading issues lately. I don't know why this keeps happening all of a sudden. And it's just as annoying and frustrating to me as it is to you. So, if the doc turns up weird, give me a few minutes, it means I'm gonna have to export it and edit the errors the site made out (which takes a long time cause I have to reformat everything and some chapters are longer than others). Which sucks. So yeah, that's a thing I have to do now until somehow this issue gets resolved, sorry.**

**Remember, I just own my OCs, nothing else is mine.**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

**_Telepathy/Flashbacks_**

**Metropolis, December 1, 16:22EST**

"Now What?" Black Lightning groaned as the ship above them began to glow. A beam came down from the bottom hitting the force field.

"I don't know," Batgirl said, "Nothing seems to be happening."

Outside the shield, their comrades remained just as confused. "Weirdest day of my life," Blue Beetle muttered.

"Is that beam doing anything?" Nightwing asked.

"Probably," the Atom answered. "But one thing it's not doing is generating the force field!" A split second later, the small hero slapped his palm to his forehead. "I'm an idiot! The field originates inside Metropolis! The Watchtower confirms a probe struck the city before the field activated. That must be what generated it! We need them to investigate and shut it down."

"But we have no com, no way to tell them," Flash reminded.

Nightwing chuckled, typing on his hologlove, "Don't overthink it." A screen appeared over his arm, letters flashing across it, /We need you to investigate probe that landed inside Metropolis. Could be source of force field. Here are coordinates from Watchtower/

/Lightning will investigate/ Batgirl replied. As Lighting and Jim Harper walked off, she turned back to the field sending a small birthday cake emoji.

"Yeah, some birthday huh?" he chuckled to himself.

"It is time to confront our attacker," Martian Manhunter spoke up. "Perhaps he can be reasoned with."

"And if not?"

A few minutes later, Flash was levitating behind Manhunter as they flew up towards the ship, the Supercycle behind them carrying her passengers out of sight with the help of Zatanna. "J'ohn, I'll never get used to being levitated," Flash confessed.

"It seemed to be the most pragmatic option," he replied. "Attention alien vessel, this hail is being relayed verbally, telepathically, and on all known frequencies. You have intruded on the Sovereignty of the planet Earth, and as their representatives, we request a parley."

-.-

**Kylstar's Vessel, 22:31UTC**

"Listen, uh, orb!" Superboy snapped. "We've been pretty patient so far!"

"But we are not interested in accompanying your First Leader on his journey," Superman finished, resting a hand on his brother's shoulder, "and please let us return to Earth."

"Translating request," the orb spoke. After a minute it flashed yellow, "Translating response. Translation: Weapons belong in the weapons room."

"OH THAT'S IT!" Remix screamed pulling out her morningstar as she, Nightmare and Superboy stepped forwards ready to fight. They had to be restrained by Superman and Wonder Woman.

"Listen, tell Kylstar we are not weapons!" Diana demanded. "We are sentient beings!"

"Translating response. Translation: Many weapons are programmed for intelligent and independent thought. You were the most powerful weapons your planet had to offer. Your level of intelligence will not be held against you."

"Oh, I can't wait to rip you apart," Nightmare growled trying to step forwards, forcing his mother to grab her son more forcefully.

"Do we have to take this?" Captain Marvel grumbled.

"No, but we can't bust out into the void of space," Captain Atom reminded. Everyone looked down at the floor with the same idea. Working together, they broke a hole through the floor, allowing them to jump into the tunnel below. "Our objective is unchanged. We still need to find his—" another flash surrounded them and they were in another room, in front of Kylstar, "teleportation device."

"Translation: First Leader Kylstar believes your organic programming is flawed in that you do you do not recognize his superiority as worthy of service. Out of kindness, he will personally reprogram all of you."

"Reprogram?" Atom questioned. "How does he plan—" Kylstar lunged forwards and puched the silver hero across the room.

The crystalline being moved to attack Conner, the young man barely catching his opponent's fist. Kylstar swung his other fist to punch him in the gut, knocking the air out of his lungs. A lasso wrapped around his fist and Nightmare pulled, yanking their opponent off his feet. Seeing her chance, Remix took to the air and dove down. There was a satisfying cracking sound as her mace clashed into his ugly mug.

Kylstar swung his fist, knocking Skylar back into Onyx, causing the pair to slide across the floor.

-.-

**Metropolis, 17:45EST**

_"Still no response,"_ Manhunter spoke.

_"Then I think it's time,"_ Flash smirked.

_"There's no force field around the ship. Probably to enable it to fire off this beam—whatever it is."_

_"So, there's nothing to stop us,"_ Flash said as he started to vibrate as J'ohn density shifted through the hull. _"Whoa, is it just me, or is this thing even bigger on the inside than on the outside."_

_"It's not just you."_

"Attention, Earth Trespassers, you are unwelcome aboard my vessel."

Turning, the two heroes faces a tall green alien in purple armor.

"Who are you?" Manhunter asked.

"What are you?" Flash asked less tactfully.

"I am known by many names throughout the galaxy: Vril, Dox, Notlimenif, The Computer, Tyrant of Bryak, the Brain of Colu, the Maniac of Yoo, but to most, I am simply the Collector of Worlds."

"Collector," Manhunter spoke, "We have come to—"

"I know why you have come. On a truly pointless errand; considering I do your doomed planet the honor of preserving one of its cities."

"Doomed? What do you mean—"

"I cannot dissuaded, nor should you try," the Collector interrupted.

"Well," Flash cracked his knuckles, "if he can't be dissuaded, he'll have to be persuaded!"

Charging forwards, the Collector swung an arm and swatted the speedster aside. "You move quickly, by my twelfth-level Coludroid brain is quicker, allowing me to predict you movements in advance."

"Coludroid," Martian Manhunter spoke using his telekinesis to lift the alien into the air, "you are a machine. I suspected as much, when I could not read you mind."

"And thus you see fit to dismember me telekinetically?"

"You have left us no choice but to disable you," he apologized.

In the air, the Collector moved to where he was upright and he crossed his arms, "But me skeleton is composed of reinforced bryaksium. You have not the power to harm me."

"And yet I do have the power to distract you," J'ohn countered.

The Collector held out his hand. "So you believe," he flipped his palm over dropping Atom, "but I calculate your little friend would disagree."

Manhunter dropped the Collector and used his power to catch Atom's falling form. The Collector landed on the ground and lunged at the Martian. Grabbing his throat, he lifted him off the ground. "Strange, your biochemistry seems overly sensitive to heat," he stated as his arm began to glow red hot. "Stranger still, for one so fast on his feet, your friend seems slow to understand," the Collector hurled the Martian into Flash, "he cannot outrun the speed of thoughts. But I am otherwise occupied at this time. So I require you to depart my vessel," the ground opened up under them dropping the three heros, "thank you for your cooperation."

-.-

**Kylstar's Vessel, 22:52UTC**

"Translation: First Leader Kylstar is pleased with your progress," the orb said as the crystal being grabbed Wonder Woman and swatter Captain Marvel aside.

"Tell Kylstar he hasn't seen progress yet!" Captain Atom challenged as he and Superman fired their energy beams at him. "Well, aren't you going to translate his response?"

"First Leader will respond personally."

The beams bounced around inside the crystal being before he redirected the beams back to their senders. Once they were out of the way, he slammed Wonder Woman onto the ground. He raised his foot to stomp at her, when Nightmare flies over and punches him back. Kylstar stumbles and Superboy ran over and helped his friend hurl the titanic being away.

They didn't expect him to land on his feet.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Conner muttered.

"I wish," Onyx huffed.

-.-

**Metropolis, 18:20EST**

_"Alpha squad to Martian Manhunter. The plan worked, we're in,"_ Nightwing relayed. _"Manhunter? J'ohn do you read?"_

_"Manhunter to Alpha. What is your status?"_

_"J'ohn. Thank God. You had us worried."_

_"We are fine, please report."_

_"Right. Alpha has infiltrated the alien ship above Metropolis,"_ Nightwing repeated. _"We're gathering intel now."_

Inside the invisible bubble, Blue Beetle was gaping at Zatanna. "So…so, uh, I saw the induction ceremony on TV. You're in the Justice League!"

Zatanna smirked, giving the younger hero a nod, "But I started on the Team back when Nightwing was Robin."

Blue stopped in his tracks for a moment processing the statement. "Wait, wait! Nightwing?!" he pointed to the hero in the lead, "Was Robin?! So who's Robin now?!"

"That's classified," Zatanna said. "But you'll meet him if you join."

"Two Robins…"

Wonder Girl chuckled, "Z, I think you just blew his mind."

"Nah, I'm cool, I'm cool," he brushed off, "I mean, I do have questions—like before your League induction, I'd never heard of Zatanna?"

"We keep most Team members under the radar. Better for them and helps with the covert," Zatanna replied.

"Not that the covert ever seems to go well," Wonder Girl joked.

Blue Beetle nodded, "Ok, but what's your connection to Zatara? And what happened to him anyways?"

Zatana's warm expression turned to a stormy glare as she looked away, "He's my father. And he retired."

Nightwing, oblivious to the conversation going on behind him, turned a corner, his eyes widening. "Guys, I think we've found something," he said leading the way into a large room. It was a massive chamber with pedestals. Some where empty, but others were attached to small glowing orbs.

"I don't get it, the alien collects dioramas?" Blue Beetle asked.

Approaching one, Nightwing's eyes widened. "They're not dioramas…I think…I think these are _real_ cities from other worlds! Holy shit! I know what he's doing to Metropolis!"

-.-

**Kylstar's Vessel, 23:17UTC**

_"Superboy? Remix? Nightmare? Can you hear me? Are any of you aboard?"_

Nightmare groaned as he got up, wiping the blood of his lip. Looking to his right he could see Captain Marvel, his mother, and Conner slowly getting back to their feet. He turned back to the battle, watching the silver and red blurs that were Superman and Captain Atom fly around and attempt to land blows. Right now, they just seemed to be distracting him, which worked in Skylar's favor as she flew above and hurled her mace down at Kylstar's head.

Kylstar grabbed Superman's leg, swinging the Man of Steel above his head and using him like a bat to deflect Remix's weapon before continuing to swing him into Atom. The silver hero flew back, crashing into the wall and Remix dove down catching Clark as he was thrown.

"We've miscalculated," Wonder Woman huffed.

"Really? I haven't noticed," Nightmare sighed. Why did it sound like his mother was about to do one of her speeches?

"We counted on our considerable raw power, but his power is uncut. So instead we will count on each other," she continued standing up and grabbing her lasso. "We are not individual warriors. We are a single army!"

Onyx flew to the other side of Kylstar pulling out his lasso, and swinging it around as Wonder Woman threw hers. The golden rope wrapped around Kylstar's arms, pinning them to his side as she, Captain Marvel, and Superboy pulled on the rope. Throwing his own rope, the red lasso went taunt around him as he pulled. From behind him two arms came past, grabbing the rope making him glance back and smirk as he saw Skylar.

"Speed of Mercury!" Marvel shouted taking their lassos and wrapping them around the massive being. Before handing the excess back to the owners to hold.

"Translation: First Leader Kylstar is now disappointed in your progress."

"Oh, cause we're so concerned about what he thinks!" Onyx retorted.

"He believes you require further reprogramming."

"Pass!" Skylar called.

"The West Maneuver?" Captain Marvel called.

"Exactly!" Superboy grinned.

"This is about respect," Captain Atom scowled cracking his knuckles.

By his side, Superman smirked, "Let's teach him some.

Flying forwards the pair decked the crystal creature in the face. He stumbled back and into Superboy, tripping over the crouching hero, landing flat on his back. Standing up the young man couldn't help but laugh as he saw the crack on his face, "A glass jaw. Who knew?"

"Hold for translation…"

"Fine but watch the language," Superboy sighed taking Clarks hand as he helped him up.

The infernal screeching filled the chamber causing all of them to cover their ears. In response, Captain Atom and Marvel transformed to escape the sound and fight back, it was still there. "Or-orbs…ad-adapted t-to…o-our…tr—trans…f-formations," the silver hero ground out.

All at once, the orbs flew into the center of the room, colliding into each other and exploding. _"Conner! Skylar! Onyx! Are you all right?!"_ M'gann called.

"Hold for translation."

-.-

**Metropolis, 18:31EST**

"We'll deal with the stolen cities after we shut down the beam shrinking Metropolis—"

"Nightwing! My glamour!" Zatanna exclaimed as the bubble began to deteriorate around them. "Something's draining its mystic energy. By the time I recast the spell it'll be—"

"To late," a robotic voice said. Turning to the source they began screaming as they were electrocuted, "Much too late."

Lightning arched over their frames, causing most of them to convulse as their muscles spasmed out of their control. Blue Beetle stumbled to his feet, grimacing against the pain. "You can?" he muttered to himself. "Then what—what are you waiting for?!" A cannon formed on his arm as Sphere rolled up beside him. aiming, they fired sonic blasts towards the Collector.

"New Genesis life-tech? On this primitive world?" the alien said as the electricity stopped. "And you, the irony of your participation is not lost on my twelfth-level intelligence. But it alters nothing. A portion of this world will be collected. Preserved, free of contamination.

-.-

**Kylstar's Vessel, 23:34UTC**

"Translation: First Leader Kylstar is impressed," the orb relayed. Multiple flashes came and the heroes turned, seeing the other captured aliens and villains appear behind them holding their heads and looking confused. "Translation: First Leader's home world was destroyed. His race enslaved. Thus, Kylstar has been gathering weapons in order to free his people. First Leader now realizes that sentient weapons deserve freedom too. He apologizes for the inconvenience."

"You're kidding?" Nightmare deadpanned.

"Can we believe this?" Superboy muttered.

"Doubt it," Remix muttered.

"Ok," M'gann spoke up. "But how does that square with the other alien ship attacking Metropolis?"

"There's another ship attacking Metropolis?" Remix and Nightmare asked.

"Translation: Kylstar will demonstrate he shares no agenda with the Collector of Worlds. And will return you all to your home planets. Though, if you choose to remain, First Leader promises good treatment and glorious battle."

"Sign me up!" Major Force shouted.

"The offer is appealing," Black Atom smirked.

"What're you doing?!" Captain Atom exclaimed turning to Major Force.

"Hey, I'll take Kyl-joy over you any day!"

"The choice has been made."

-.-

**Metropolis, 19:01EST**

_"Alpha squad. We are back aboard the ship and locked on your position."_

_"Good,"_ Nightwing replied as he vaulted out of the way of a laser. _"Cause we definitely need…"_ a bright light filled the room and he stopped as his missing comrades and multiple villains appeared in the room, "_help?"_ Turning, he pointed at the robot, "Guys! Alien robot trying to steal Metropolis! Take him down!"

A blast came from above and he looked up to see the Bioship floating above all of them, sending pieces of the droid scattered throughout the room.

The head landed at Superboy's feet and he picked it up. "What is this thing?"

"Called himself the Braniac of Izod or something like that," Flash supplied.

"I am the collector of worlds," the head corrected. "But you…scans indicate that you are Kryptonian? Impossible." The head's eyes began glowing and two laser scanners hit Conner in the face. "Correction, further scans indicate you are merely a clone…a clone with corrupted Kryptonian DNA."

Red beams hit the head, causing it to explode and send Conner stumbling back into Superman, whom was glaring at where the head had been. "Kon-El is every bit a Kryptonian and I should know, cause I am Kal-El of Krypton!"

"Is that it?" La'Gaan asked peering out of the Bioship.

At that moment, the sound of multiple doors hissed around the room and more droids rose from the floor. "Do not flatter yourself Earthling. Did you truly believe my twelfth-level intelligence could be relegated to a single Coludroid unit?" they asked stepped around. Several approached and began scanning. "Still, scans indicate you are a true Kryptonian. If such a thing is possible—"

"How about, someone just tells me what's going on?" Rogue snarled holding her claws up. "Before, you cause something you'll regret."

"Something below tampers with my force field generation probe. If the force field is shut down while the reduction beam is engaged, it will devastate your world."

"Hey that's my job!" Devastation began to exclaim before a white tail slammed against her chest.

"Your job is to follow orders," Rogue snarled.

"Then disengage your beam Collector! Because your force field prevents us from waving off our operatives in Metropolis!"

"I am the Collector of Worlds, not their destroyer. I have disengaged the beam," he stated. "Then you are determined that I not collect your city?"

"Very."

"An inadvisable risk to the preservation of your culture—but, if even one Kryptonian survives, perhaps the need for preservation is not absolute. So be it. I will re-enlarge your Metropolis and depart. But first…" There was a flash and the League found themselves standing outside Metropolis as the force field fell away and the ship started to leave.

"Metropolis is safe, Kylstar is gone, I think we've reached out alien quota for the year," Captain Atom sighed. "It's over."

"Is it?" Nightwing spoke up. "Because I'm still a few answers shy of over?"

"He's right," Nightmare nodded, crossing his arms, tail shifting, "What're the odds of two unrelated aliens attack Earth at the same time?"

"It is disturbing," Manhunter said, "to my knowledge the only other such were the Apellaxians and the Draaga. And those were random and years apart."

"It's almost like someone waved a red flag and said we're here, come and get us," Remix frowned.

"Maybe it was Desaad or someone else from Apokolyps," Superboy suggested.

"Their tech does keep ending up on our world," Nightmare agreed.

"Ugh! I'm an idiot!" Superman exclaimed facepalming. "The Collector collects cities from doomed worlds."

"So Earth's doomed?"

"No! What made me not ask if he'd collected from Krypton?!"

Superboy shared a look with his friends. "Is he completely missing the fact that the Collector thought Earth was doomed?"

"I think he is," Remix said.

"Are we the only ones concerned about that?" Nightmare asked.

"Well?" Wonder Girl grinned hopping over to Blue Beetle.

"Strangest day of my life."

"So you're in?"

"Oh yeah, totally."

-.-

**Gotham, 21:01EST**

"Ony! Ony!" two shrill voices called as they entered the mansion. Around the bend, two tiny toddlers sprinted around, tackling their older brother's legs.

Grinning, Onyx leaned down, patting his younger sibling's heads as they hugged his legs. "Hey guys, what're you two doing up so late?"

"Wait for you and—Dickie!" the twins exclaimed leaving him to hug the other brother as he entered.

"Hey guys," Dick smiled.

"Happy birthday!" Lyta bounced, her blonde hair tied up in two small braids.

"We help Alfie make cake!" Alex grinned tugging on Dick's coat.

"Oh, did you now?" Skylar spoke up pushing her way in. "And did you bring your big brother presents?"

"Yes!" the twins exclaimed running off to get their gifts.

"Hello Master Dick, Master Onyx, Miss Sky, Miss Diana," Alfred greeted as he sidestepped the two tiny terrors. "I trust you all had a pleasant day?"

"You did see what was happening in Metropolis right?" Dick asked hanging up his coat.

"Yes, but seeing as it's all fine now, I assume you're ready to, I believe as you say, chill out?"

"Yes," they all groaned.

"Well then, Master Bruce and Master Tim shall be home soon. We can get started on cake and presents without them if you wish?"

"I like that plan" Dick nodded.

"CAKE!" the twins screamed causing several sets of eyes to go wide. The twins, were left alone with the cake…

"ALEX!"

"LYTA!"

"LEAVE THE CAKE ALONE!"


	52. New Year

Chapter 51

**A/N: Hey guys! Welcome back! We are officially onto season 2 of Young Justice! Exciting! Sorry about the upload issue again. Remember, I just own the story and my OCs, nothing else is mine./strong/p**

**/comms/**

**"Bold is raptor."**

_**Telepathy/flashbacks**_

**Mt. Justice, January 1, 18:18EST**

"Neptune's beard!" a green-skinned Atlantean exclaimed slamming his fist on the ground. "You did it to me again. I don't care how many years you trained as Robin, then Nightwing, one day, you're mine chum."

Rolling his eyes behind his mask, Dick helped Aquaman's protégé to his feet. "I don't doubt that Lagoon Boy."

"You know, you'd have better chances if you stopped using the same strategies?" Nightmare pointed out from where he'd been leaning against a wall, observing the sparring session.

"Oh, like you didn't use the same strategies when you started?!" the Atlantean protested.

Onyx raised an eyebrow, his tail twitching lazily by his feet, "And I had my ass handed to me. Like you're having it handed to you now."

"Recognized: Superboy—B04. Miss Martian—B05. Robin—B23. Bumblebee—B20. Blue Beetle—B25. Beast Boy—B21."

"Ugh! What's that stench?!" Onyx gagged covering his nose.

"Slow down beautiful, wanna tell you what's on for tonight," Mal said stepping in front of his girlfriend as she landed and changed back to normal size.

"Oh sorry Mal, I'm already late for a lab session with Dr. Palmer. Rain check baby ok?" Bumblebee said giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before running down the hall towards the showers.

"Rain check, sure."

"Welcome home Angelfish."

"Thank you La'gaan," M'gann said kissing the Atlantean. Disturbed by the odd noise, Blue, Wolf, and Indie raised their head, looking at the couple for a moment before returning to their naps. They didn't want to deal with their strange pack's drama.

"I'm hitting the showers," Conner grumbled.

"That's a good idea for you hermano," Blue said retracting his armor and walking away.

Garfield raised his arm, looking at the gunk covering it looking to Nightmare who was currently covering his nose. "Fine."

"Clayface is safely back in his Arkham cell," Robin reported.

"Good work."

"I didn't do much. I just—"

/Emergency alert/ Captain Atom said appearing on a vid-chat. /United Nation's headquarters is under attack/

"Beta's only two blocks away."

"Captain Atom, the Team's Beta Squad is in the vicinity. ETA: three minutes."

-.-

**New York, 19:33EST**

FREEZE!" several guards shouted only to be slammed aside by a metal hook attacked to a rope. The owner pulled it back, scoffing and grumbling something in an alien language as one of the ambassadors was escorted into an office by two other guards.

Thudding came from the wall as the attacker attempted to break through. The foundations of the room shook and cracks began to form along the doorframe, causing the closest guard to back up nervously. It wasn't like there was many other places they could escort the Secretary to safety. With a final thud, the wall caved in, pinning the first guard under it as the attacker strolled over the ruins, looking merely annoyed at the bullets bouncing off his skin. Raising a hand, the man jammed the gun, causing it to explode in the Guard's face as he attempted to fire again.

Leaving the Secretary alone with his attacker. "P-please, I don't understand," he pleaded as the being spoke to him in a strange language, "I don't know what you want!"

Red eyes narrowed and the being pressed a button on his belt. "So that's how you wanna play it? Fine. Contract calls for the Main Man to put on a show for the locals. So one more time: surrender or die."

"Contract? Show?"

"Die it is."

The bounty hunter stepped forwards as a blonde girl in black and red sweats with a W symbol and a lasso leapt over his land. Landing in front of him, she turned around, punching the attacker back with enough force to shatter the glass in the windows.

From the now open windows two more girls came through. "Batgirl, get the Secretary General to safety, Wonder Girl, you're with me," Remix ordered grabbing her mace.

"Who are you? Where are you taking me?"

Beside her, Wonder Girl smirked. "Ok big guy, let's see how much punishment you can take!" punching the man's jaw, she moved for another swing when he grabbed her face.

Skylar lunged, ramming into his side forcing the guy to drop her teammate. Swinging her mace upwards, she was pleased to see his head snap back from the force as he was sent reeling backwards into Cassie's fist. Wonder Girl threw a punch, landing it in his back causing him to stumble forwards again. As Sky swung for another hit, he reached out, grabbing her arm and flipping the startled heroine onto her partner.

"Kari? Kezifemme thinks they can take down the Main Man? Kari?" the man grumbled stomping to the elevator and ripping the metal doors off and jumping down the shaft.

Wonder Girl sat up and winced, "That's not good."

"Nope," Remix agreed picking up her mace and racing towards the shaft. Her wingspan was too large for her to fly down, but thankfully she had claws to use. Leaping onto the wall, she dug the talons into the metal pipes, quickly climbing down as Wonder Girl flew past to catch up with the bad guy. Once she was close enough, she leapt off, vaulting off the wall and through the elevator door, spreading her wings and taking flight down the hall towards the sound of fighting.

Sky flapped her wings, moving up as Cassie was hurled by her, slamming into Batgirl. Growling, Remix folded her wings and dove down towards the target. Bringing her legs forwards, she kicked the man in the back of the head, riding him down as he fell. Cracks spread across the ground from the impact and she vaulted off. Flipping in the air and landing in front of the Secretary, spreading her wings like a shield.

"Kezifem," the being growled getting to his feet and spitting out some blood. He began to charge forwards, when a lasso wrapped around his arms as Wonder Girl tried to hold him back. Beside her, Batgirl raised her taser-gun, firing it at the assassin.

"Only it didn't have the effect they expected it to have. The target gave a grunt of pain, whirling on his heel and grabbing both cords attached to him. Spinning around, he flung the other two girls around, and Remix flapped her wings, grunting as they slammed into her and they landed on the ground.

Getting up, their eyes all widened as they saw the man holding the Secretary by his arms, appearing to be pulling.

"NO!"

The assassin ripped the man in half, but instead of the normal components of the human body falling to the floor, it was sparking wires and a tiny green alien.

"What the hell?"

"That's different."

Bending down and picking the smaller being up, the pale man looked at them tapping his belt. "The Main Man's contract's complete. Kezifemme, your world's your world."

The group of girls ducked as the wall behind him exploded revealing a flying bike not unlike the Supercycle that the man jumped on before flying off into space.

"I think…I think clown face was some kind of alien," Wonder Girl whispered staring up at the sky.

"And that's not even the scary part," Batgirl said kneeling beside the remains.

"No," Remix agreed, "if those stories I hear about emlittle green men/em are true, then we're looking for a lot more missing people."

-.-

**Watchtower, January 3, 17:36EST**

"Recognized: Zatanna—25. Rocket—26. Silver Swan—27."

"Big guy's Lobo, he's an intergalactic bounty hunter," Lantern explained, "extremely dangerous, but not likely to return. The little guy's another story, that's a Krolotean, and Kroloteans always travel in packs."

"Meaning more of them are on Earth," Batman stated.

"I believe my friend can help answer that, he's obtained vital intel," Manhunter said motioning a blonde man in a lab coat forwards, "I believe some of you have not met Dr. Adam Strange of STARR Labs Ardell Initiative; he's the scientist in charge of maintaining the Zeta Beam technology we use for teleportation."

_"Was wondering why a civilian was allowed on the top-secret Watchtower,"_ Conner grumbled.

"And he has a story to tell."

"Uh, it's a little involved," the man said, "wish I had visual aids or something."

"I can assist you," Manhunter replied. _"We are all linked Adam, what you remember, we will see."_

"Uh…great," the man stumbled obviously trying to get over his shock. "_Uh, well, I was preforming a routine Zeta Tube upgrade, only something went wrong and I found myself transported halfway across the galaxy to a planet called Rahn. There was a scientist there, Sard'eth. He was conducting his own experiments in enhanced, very enhanced, Zeta Beam technology. It took weeks to establish basic communication, but he eventually made me understand, that some of his tech had been stolen."_

"Fit's the Krolotean M.O. their entire culture revolves around stolen tech."

"Sard'eth intercepted transmissions between a location on Rahn and multiple locations on Earth. He was attempting to trace those when he accidently transported me to Rahn," Strange explained rummaging through his pocket. "He gave me this," he pulled a device out of his pocket, revealing a hologram of Earth, "it tracks Zeta Beam radiation, showing all the places Kroloteans have beamed to Earth."

"Guess those old movies about little green men were almost prophetic," Remix muttered crossing her arms. "You think you can track them babe?"

Nightmare frowned, "I doubt it, all individuals have a unique scent, and if they're posing as humans they could very well be finding a way to mimic the owner's scent."

"Then I'm ordering a two-pronged attack," Captain Atom spoke. "We'll stage simultaneous raids on every Krolotean target on Earth, while a group of Leaguers travels to Rahn with Strange to cut the Kroloteans off at the source."

Strange coughed into his hand, tapping the device nervously, "We might have a problem with that last part. Not clear on the why, but Earthlings are persona non grata in Rahn's corner of the galaxy. And these six Leaguers are wanted criminals."

"What?!"

"Batman! The missing sixteen hours!" Nightwing exclaimed.

"Agreed," the Dark Knight nodded. "Five years ago, Vandal Savage took complete mental control of the entire Justice League. These exact six Leaguers went missing for sixteen hours."

"Never even occurred to us that Vandal could've sent us off world," Lantern frowned rubbing his chin. "I'll alert Hal, he and Guy are on Oa with the Green Lantern Corp."

"Meanwhile, we have fifteen other active Leaguers we can send."

"You aren't getting it," Strange spoke up, "there's a planetary watch alert out for emall /emmembers of the Justice League."

"Not all of us are Leaguers," Nightwing spoke up. "I can send a covert squad to handle the Rahn end of things, and to find out more about the missing sixteen hours without causing an intergalactic incident."

Atom nodded, "Do it."

The members of the Team nodded, walking towards the Zeta Tube, when Strange cleared his throat, looking at Onyx and Conner. "If you two are going, don't wear those shirts."

Rolling their eyes, the two stomped off to catch up with the others. _"You know that thing about you not being Leaguers, you five still have open invitations…"_

_"We know Z."_

_"But we're happy right where we are."_

-.-

**Mt. Justice, January 4, 20:00EST**

"It's all hands on deck," Nightwing started, "The League and the Team will hit of the Krolotean Zeta Beam Location simultaneously. Your mission is to destroy all platforms and locate any humans they may've abducted. As always, Mal is ops manager coordinating comms from here."

"Wonder Girl, you, Indie, and I are Alpha, assignment: Philadelphia."

"Yes!"

"Neptune's beard!"

"Batgirl, Bumblebee, you two, Wolf and Blue are Beta, assignment: Vladivostok."

"Come on!"

"Robin, Remix, Lagoon Boy, Blue Beetle, you four are Gamma, assignment: New Orleans."

"Gamma always gets the soft gigs," La'gaan grumbled stomping off.

"Tim, you're team leader," Dick said grabbing his brother's arm as he was about to walk away.

"Dick, I've never led a squad before, shouldn't Skylar be in charge?" he questioned and the woman crossed her arms.

"You need to get your feet wet short stack," she said. "I'm just going to make sure you three don't get yourselves killed."

"Is it cause we're Gamma and you don't expect much?" the current Boy Wonder grumbled.

"Just don't die," his adopted brother grumbled. "And no unnecessary risks to the squad."

"Don't worry, I'll keep them from getting killed," Skylar said patting Nightwing's shoulder. "Tell Onyx I said good luck."

"Will do."

"Come on Tiny Tim, let's move out."

-.-

**New Orleans, 21:59CST**

"A tool shed?" La'gaan grumbled as the Bioship flew down towards the junkyard the signal was coming from. "Really? There's barely enough room for one Zeta Tube in there. I knew we'd get the soft gig!"

"And yet I'm strangely ok with that," Blue Beetle grinned, leaning back. "Yes I am. Yes I am. YES I AM!"

Remix raised a brow at the newbie as she stood up crossing her arms. "Lagoon Boy, do not assume we have a soft gig just based on appearances. You can't always trust what you see. Robin, contact the cave, tell them we're in position."

The Boy Wonder nodded, tapping the symbol on his chest. It lit up and a hologram hovered in front of him. "Gamma Squad to Cave. We're in position."

/Acknowledged Gamma/ Mal responded. /All Team and Justice League units are in place and ready. Go time

Getting up from their spots, they went to the back of the ship and the door opened. Remix grabbed Robin and La'gaan's arms, gliding down with Blue Beetle beside some cars. Crouching down, they quickly maneuvered through to the shed.

Peering around the corner, Blue raised his arm and a sonic cannon formed. He gave a glance to his right, getting a nod from Robin. Firing the weapon, the shed was burst to smithereens, various repair tools flying into the air and crashing back to the ground.

"So Remix," La'gaan smirked, "what was that you were saying about trusting your eyes? Cause looks like to me Blue took out an actual tool shed."

The woman bared her fangs at him, tapping her comm. "We got a problem. Location's a bust. No Kroloteans, no hidden entrance at the coordinates."

/Watchtower sensors still read trace Zeta radiation from the site/

Robin waved, holding up a device. "Confirmed. The radiation signatures coming from below the waterline."

"Of course it's underwater," Remix hissed.

"Lagoon Boy, you're up," Robin said.

La'gaan nodded, running past and jumping into the water. Waiting at the shore it took a minute before their comms pinged; La'gaan found an entrance. Robin pulled out two rebreathers, handing one to Sky and biting down on his own before jumping in.

The Atlantean motioned over and they slowly swam after him as he lead the way down a small tunnel before they reached a door that was pulsing open and closed for water to flow through. Robin waved his arm pointing to La'gann then the door, causing the other boy to nod. Tattoos on his shoulder began glowing and his muscles began to swell and the fins on his shoulders grew larger. Swimming over, he forced the door open to allow them to pass through before Lagoon Boy shrunk down and caught up with them.

Slowly breaching the surface, four sets of eyes grew wide as they saw massive Zeta platforms and small aliens scampering all over the place.

Remix smirked looking to La'gaan, "What was it you were saying earlier? This looked like a soft gig?"

"Shut up!" he hissed quietly as they crawled up to hide under one of the platforms.

"Gamma to Cave, we hit the motherload," Robin said tapping his comm, "alien tech, multiple Zeta, uh, platforms and more Kroloteans than I can count."

/Acknowledged, we'll send back-up. Until then, lay low/

"That may be a problema ese," Blue Beetle remarked as an alarm began going off. Peering out they saw their images on the screens by the platforms, and turning around, they saw the drone sending the footage.

Grabbing her mace, Remix threw it at the drone causing it to explode and the feeds to go to static. Nonetheless, it didn't keep the Kroloteans from figuring out where they were.

"Well shit," Remix hissed grabbed her mace as they got into fighting stances.

"Blue you have our six!" Robin ordered pulling out his bo-staff.

"Stay liquid minnows."

Charging forwards, Remix spun around, spreading her wings and using them to send the Kroloteans around her flying across the room. Once she stopped, one leaped at her which she grabbed by its throat and hurled it into one of its buddies as she punted another away.

The one she kicked flew towards Robin, who ducked and it slammed into one who was about to jump the current Boy Wonder as he swung his electrified staff, knocking more away. Above them, Blue fired his sonic cannon, and one of the aliens made a screech, causing them to halt before starting to retreat.

"Wow, they really don't like you!" La'gaan exclaimed ripping on off his shoulder, "I'm a little jealous!"

"He said what?!"

"I said I'm jealous, don't rub it in!" he groaned hurling two more away as Remix swung her mace into another that was about to jump on him.

"No you! That one over there!" Blue exclaimed pointing to the platform.

"You can understand them?!" Remix exclaimed flapping her wings and flying up next to the newbie.

"I don't know how, but I can," he nodded quickly. "Hef is ordering all the Kroloteans to Zeta off-world. He's setting this base to self-destruct in four minutes!"

"And we're getting out," Robin ordered. "Anything else?"

"He said sacrificing the play-things below?"

"Play-things?" Robin muttered. "The abductees!"

"Three minutes thirty ese, then boom!"

"And Nightwing said no unnecessary risks to the squad," Robin grimaced. "But this is necessary."

"The prisoners have to be below us," Remix said.

"There!" La'gaan pointed to a series of small chutes where they could see multiple aliens leaping out from.

"Blue! With me!" Remix ordered diving down, the younger boy on her heels forming a battering ram. The two fliers spread their wings, flying ahead and barrelling over Kroloteans as they flew towards the tunnels. Diving down, Blue grabbed one escaping alien as they came out.

"Hello? Is someone there? Please, get us out!"

Robin sprinted towards a large cage where the forms of multiple people could be seen. "It's Robin!"

"The Boy Wonder!"

"Thank God!"

"The others ran over and the people began stumbling back in fright. "More aliens!"

"Go away!"

"Hey! We're not aliens!" Blue protested before looking at his hostage, "Well, he is, but we're not!"

"La'gaan!" Remix snapped grabbing oner side. The Atlantean nodded, his tattoos glowing as he ran to the other side. Together, the ripped the cage open.

"Thank you," the real UN Secretary General spoke.

"No problem, get it a lot chum," La'gaan snared before he saw smacked upside the head.

"Lagoon Boy, now is not the time!" Remix hissed. "Blue! Ask him the fastest way out!"

"I can't speak—you can? What're you waiting for?!" he exclaimed pulling the alien closer and speaking and the odd sets of screeches they spoke. "This way!"

"Let's move people! Sometime today would be nice!" Remix waved as the hostages hesitantly started after.

The hostages began running, following Blue as he lead the way to a pool of water, jumping in, they swam through before an explosion rocked them all. The resulting shockwave. Forced them all out of the passage, and allowed them to reach the surface, gasping for air, but alive.

"GAMMA RULES!" La'gaan cheered.

"Uh…guys," Blue Beetle pointed up and they say the League descending towards them.

"Dude!" Nightwing called grinning from where he sat on the Supercycle, "Remix, I thought you were going to keep them outta trouble?"

"I said I would keep them from dying, not that we wouldn't blow something up," she smirked, "I mean that's what you did! It's basically the right of passage at this point!" She turned to Robin, "Good job short-stack."

"Thanks," he panted.


End file.
